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guzmanreimer · 2 years

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9 Greatest Bars In Singapore Which Serves Outstanding Cocktails

First, there was Noma, a showcase of mezcal and tequila, and the second, Magnolia, highlighted New Orleans as the birthplace of cocktails. Really nice beer selection and the burgers are wonderful. Bartender preparing cocktail at the bar.|© Maksim Fesenko / Shutterstock. Hidden in https://beardpaper9.bloggersdelight.dk/2022/10/11/i-got-a-drink-at-certainly-one-of-asias-greatest-bars-the-place-westworld-was-filmed/ of Telok Ayer Street, you may really miss this place if you weren’t deliberately looking for it. However, once in, likelihood is that you may be purposefully in search of out this enjoyable and casual bar each week, like its long-devoted regulars.

The ceiling is covered in magnificent champagne-hued carpets, with gold and bronze balconies surrounding the area.

The shophouse location adds a nice deal of appeal to the playful, trendy surroundings.

You can even enjoy sharing plates similar to Fine de Claire Oysters, Wagyu Beef Steak Tartare and King Salmon Jicama Rolls while soaking in the vibrant sky high atmosphere, making CÉ LA VI one of the best bars in Singapore.

Seating simply 28 visitors, this cosy Ginza-style bar ensures each client gets Kanetaka’s full consideration.

It's like a lifestyle magazine, with styled shoots, graphics, visitor contributions, and recipe pages.

For a sweeter various, try the Amai Sanaa , which makes use of the wagyu whisky as a base intensified by sweet strawberry notes.

This is on our top-list to visit when showing around our pals or family who come for holiday. Our favourite dish is their burger and recently tried their pork stomach burger. And should you like a straightforward drink cocktail, go for their “rough love”. Hope they’ll put back the lunch set menu where you possibly can have a 3 course meal at an inexpensive price. Since, the bar lounge is sitting on the long-lasting resort - Marina Bay Sands, count on to pay a little bit more than the standard value of a dish or drinks in a restaurant.

Collaborate With Pals In Real Time

Setting a sophisticated mood with a dimly lit environment and opulent furnishings, Potato Head Singapore is considered one of the city’s must-visit cocktail bar hotspots. The Whiskey Library & Jazz Club is amongst the greatest whiskey bars in the world, housing over one thousand bottles of rare and refined award-winning whiskeys from throughout the globe. Anyone and everybody are welcome to expertise the art of whiskeys or discover the well-loved number of expertly crafted cocktails.

These Are The 50 Finest Cocktail Bars On The Earth, According To Specialists

It’s hard to top the sheer opulence that ATLAS supplies with its New York Art-deco inspired look and to boot, its gin-focused cocktail programme doesn’t fall quick by means of wow issue both. A mainstay on the World’s 50 Best Bars record for a number of years running, ATLAS is house to over 1,300 bottles of gin and is the home ground for some of Asia’s most prolific bartenders. At ATLAS Bar, count on well-executed interpretations of the classics that are something however textbook — we hear their dirty martini is among the greatest in the nation — in addition to playful renditions of acquainted cocktails. Whether https://diigo.com/0qa92u ’re hankering after a classic cocktail done correctly or something a little wilder, you’ve come to the right place.

The Granddaddy Of Singapores Cocktail Scene [newline]another Veteran Singapore Cocktail Bar

Nutmeg & Clove’s newest menu, referred to as Flavours and Memories, really showcases native flavours from the 5 main ethnic groups in the Lion City, heavily drawing on their culinary influences. The first rum bar in Kuala Lumpur – opened in February 2017 – is called after a drink created in the 1970s on the Hilton’s Aviary Bar and defined as ‘Malaysia’s addition to the basic cocktail genre’. Besides the Kaya Toast Martini, Opus Bar additionally has a range of Asian-inspired cocktails corresponding to Miso Soup, Tom Yum, and Durian cocktails. Opus Bar & Grill has rolled out an exciting new cocktail that can tantalise your tastebuds. All hail the Kaya Toast Martini (S$20) – the mildly candy concoction has been created with barley water, kaya jam, Ketel One Vodka and lemon juice, topped with a kaya-smeared bread toast. Indulgentism is a Singapore blog trying to deliver you sincere meals critiques of all the cafes, eating places and hawker meals in Singapore that’s value indulging.

#Best bars in Singapore #Bars in Singapore #Best cocktail bars in Singapore #Places to drink in Singapore #Asia's best bars

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bladesandstars · 2 years

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fanfic writer tag game

Tagged by @mathclasswarfare - thank you, this was fun!

What’s your all-time favorite ship? Choosing one is hard. Impossible, even. The top-level, makes me emo about songs in my car even to this day, are: highspecs, ignyx, sylorenz, claurenz. How many works do you have on AO3? 146! Mostly FFXV and FE3H, but various fandoms and some original work, too.

What’s your total AO3 word count? 375,683 What are your top 5 fics by kudos? push till it breaks, a very E-rated Tadashi/Adam (SK8) fic that was so fun to write. I loved exploring their dynamic and personalities. I wrote this at the height of SK8 frenzy - I think it might still have been airing, even. I love all the energy from Tadaai fans and will definitely write for this pairing again.

and all for the want of a horseshoe nail, T, Sylvain (FE3H) character study. Ah, I’m so happy I looked and that this is #2! I love Sylvain so much, and early in playing this game had the “you NEED TO SEE how important you are to your friends’ lives!” instinct to shake him by the shoulders. Heavily, heavily inspired by It’s a Wonderful Life, one of my favorite movies of all time. I might even call this a crossover.

More fun under the cut!

Sounds Like Fun, E, Fleurentia & Prompto (FFXV) - I’m ALSO so delighted this is in the top five, it was hilarious to write. Poor Prompto can’t tell WHEN to interrupt his grossly-in-love roommates. I adore all of them.

An Unexpected Complication, E, Claude/Byleth (FE3H). This was a really early fic when I was playing - I think Claude is hella sexy, and apparently you all do too, based on this result. I see you! Sexy man having his plans interrupted by someone distractingly attractive is a real good vibe. I love people taking Claude by surprise.

The Dragon’s Dagger, E, Highspecs (Ignis/Aranea, FFXV). My first longfic! Just under 20k, it’s not all that long by some standards, but plotting and completing 10 chapters was an amazing accomplishment for me, and I’m still proud of it.

Do you reply to comments, why or why not? Yes! I promise! It may take an incredibly long time because sometimes I get weird and self-conscious, but I do respond to them all. Flailing and yelling over writing was one of the first ways I made fandom connections, and that will always be valuable to me.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? Dagger hurts because the end precedes Ignis heading to the Leviathan summoning. But in terms of sharp-ass feels, I think it has to be In Between Days, because Ignis is certain he’s lost the love of his life and he just...grieves. I’m not sure I could have written it if I hadn’t already been sure I was going to give Nyx back to him, but Ignis didn’t know that at the time, and it was sad and painful but very cathartic to write.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending? I wrote a couple of gifts for Christmas, one Claurenz and one Mercievain, and both have incredibly happy endings. Excited to give them tomorrow! Do you write crossovers? I do! I wrote a Pacific Rim crossover starring Sylorenz for the FE sci-fi zine, and in my WIPs are Westworld and Person of Interest crossovers.

Have you ever received hate on a fic? I’ve gotten a few comments that were odd, but nothing I would categorize as hate.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Hell yeah! One of my favorite things about fanfiction is exploring personality dynamics, and how they are the same or different with different romantic or sexual partners. Sex has an intensity I really enjoy writing, much like action scenes. And it can (though it doesn’t have to) provide a really good environment for emotional connection as well. I’m enthusiastic about sex and think it’s something that is good and fun to think about, so yeah! I write it a lot!

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I’m aware of! Please don’t, though.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Amazingly, yes?! My Ignyx fic Impossible Things was translated into Russian here. I still think that’s such a neat thing to have happened. (Also, this was the fic that took me from “damn, I ship Ignis with Nyx, that’s such a good ship” to Flaming OTP Status.)

Have you ever co-written a fic before? I have, and I adored the experience, and I’d love to do so again. Got at least three projects on the horizon where co-writing is part of things.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? Aranea/Nyx lawyer AU.

What are your writing strengths? Banter, spice, dialogue, and characterization, including the level of characterization where the details that aren’t dialogue really “sound like” the POV character. Also PLAYLISTS! I can slap songs onto anything.

What are your writing weaknesses? Me and long plots are Not Friends right now.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? This stirs up all my sexy “Faerghus as Russia” headcanons, as well as French Canadian Gautiers. All super good, but I don’t speak another language well enough to try it.

What was the first fandom you wrote for? FFXV. Forever grateful to this fandom for bringing me to writing! I love it a lot!

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? I’ve mentioned a lot of faves already, but let me also hype the three-part Ignyx series I wrote, the odes to Lorenz and Ravus, and the Sylorenz Leicester Falls AU that’s consuming me lately. Tagging @heyitsrosencrantz @lunchtops @omgkalyppso @tehrevving @neist (only if you wanna, of course), and anyone else who wants to do this!

#hope talks #hope writes #year end review

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satashiiwrites · 2 years

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WIP tag game

WIP Tag Game

Rules: I will post all the names of all the files in my WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous, and tag as many people as I have WIPs to do the same. Send me an ask with the title that most intrigues you and I’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it.

Okay there’s no way i’m going to tag as many people as i have wips… that’s too many. Plus bonus gifs! Thanks @radio-chatter

Mass Effect/Mass Effect Andromeda

An Andromeda Tale

To Follow (Seguir’s sequel)

Whatta Man

Cop!Reyes and Firefighter!Scott

Westworld MReyder

Royalty/Fantasy AU

The Marks We Leave On One Another

Recurrance

Shipwrecked

Mafia AU

What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?

The Mask of the Charlatan

Your Guide to Andromeda

AAT outtakes

NavySeal!Scott and UndercoverCop! Reyes (heavily inspired by H50)

Akksul fic

Genetic manipulation SAM body horror MReyder fic

911

Family, Familia, ‘Ohana (H50, SWAT crossover)

I Wasn’t Looking Until I Found You

Generation Kill/HBO War

Bradley the Damned

Mayans MC

The Outlaw and the Cartel Boss

Venom

Unnamed Japanese Woodcut Tentacle porn ficlet

Star Wars

Unnamed Introspection Sequel

Narcos

Unnamed sequel to Mi Amado

The Old Guard

Crossroads and Divergent Paths

Original Work

Unnamed Dystopian Cyberwestern

Tagging whoever wants to play along? @interstellar-chaos @quietborderline

#wip tag game #too many wips

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athoughtfulsandwich · 4 years

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Story ideas for Detroit: Become Human I would have enjoyed (warning: heavily inspired by Westworld & BBCs Humans)

Chloe becoming a deviant [we don’t know what she is, she could be for all we know, but I don’t think so]

Kamski being killed by one of his creations (maybe on purpose or just by accident) [I know sounds a bit harsh]

an android designed to hold the human psyche/brain/something like that aka eternal life

an android blending in perfectly with other humans and every human is convinced they are one of them, but haha jokes on you!

hackers that modify androids and sell them for a cheaper price than the stores

android fight club (humans force androids to fight against each other or humans fight against androids and killing them (especially for humans that are absolutely anti androids))

an android and human being in love with each other and the human helping the android after deviating

edit: bigger anti androids demonstration; the game said that the negative impact the androids (like the creation of them) had was big, but we don't see it (ok we don't see a lot in the game tbh)

Humans that are pro android and I don't mean Carl or Alice; I mean nerds or tech gurus who would love to have an android but maybe can't effort one and won't shut up how revolutionary this invention was

human allies; I think it would have been smart if pacifist!Markus tried to make some alliances with humans (we all know that violent!Markus would rather die)

Feel free to add more!! :)

#detroit become human #rk800 #rk200 #ax400 #dbh ax400 #dbh rk800 #dbh rk200 #dbh rk900 #dbh alice #dbh kara #dbh connor #dbh markus #dbh north #dbh hank #dbh luther #dbh nines

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ofgeneticperfection · 4 years

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Scarlet’s chain of sweetness

Courtesy of @madamdirectcr

5 THINGS YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER.

1. Indomitable - She pretty much does what she wants, how she wants, whenever she wants. If she wants something? She manipulates her way into getting it. She doesn’t stop until she has it and hardly anything will sway her otherwise. She’s extremely hard to control when determined and set on a task in mind. She’s hard to control period. She’s got a streak of wild, impulsive, and loves to toy with others be it malicious or just to tease. Her will is near impossible to break and she never believes that she can’t do something even if it is the impossible. Atop of that she’s fairly hard to defeat physically, she’ll bring more than a challenge if ever attack or if a loved one is ever hurt. I’m not saying that she can’t be brought down because she can, but it’s going to take more than a couple of hits.

2. Emotional Depth- There’s not just one tier to Isrieal, there’s a million and it’s a labyrinth. She comes off as cold, arrogant, prideful but that’s the main wall that she hides behind. She’s strong and will exude complete confidence most of the time while being sly, cunning, coy, and whatever else she can throw at you. These are the emotions she shows to the world but the rest she’s buried so deep inside that she forgets they even exist. Inside she’s broken, sad, lonely, tormented but she has her ways of hiding them and biting back the pain that feeling these emotions brings. It’s from the conditions she’s been stuck in for her whole life at Hojo’s mercy and the lies she’s had to tell herself to make it easier to handle. Of course, this naturally makes her volatile with bursts of anger or other strong emotions and if she let’s one slip out they all come spilling out sooner or later. She does have a tendency to use special sedative injections to subdue these emotions whenever she feels any starting to well up. Deep under it all, however, she loves with all of her heart once she is sure that she will not be hurt. She’s always afraid of that in a way, but there is no in between. You have her all or you have her nothing. But once there she is quite passionate and protective and more soft and innocent then she’d originally lead you to think.

3. Manipulative - Life is a game and she plays to win. At least that’s how one survives in ShinRa. She learned from one of the best manipulators out there and now she’s known to even manipulate the Professor himself. She rose herself from experiment to assistant Director by playing him and she plays everyone around as she sees necessary in order to get what she needs. She often shows what she wants to show and nothing more, near every move and every article of clothing is precisely calculated towards whomever she is meeting with. Of course, only if you don’t know her well.

4. Deals with the Devil- Oh yes, she loves to make deals but don’t worry they’re mostly fair and she is one to keep to her word and her promises. Despite her demeanor she is quite loyal when she promises something. If you work out a trade or a bargain she’ll do her best to uphold her end of it, getting you what you want in return. There is a lot that can be traded between science and other departments after all and she’s not afraid to go behind the Professor’s back here and there if it means obtaining something she’s personally after in the end.

5. A.I Alien - Lastly, yes I love the fact she is a hybrid and loves to play with quantum theory and A.I in the future. I always love the sci-fi aesthetics and concepts and the idea of something beautiful having a monster inside. She’s at conflict with this part of herself, often not knowing how to fully accept it but at least she is in control of the cells and not the other way around. She’s also always been focused on uploading consciousness and prolonging and bringing others back to life since she doesn’t age. It’s from there that she gets pulled into quantum theories and eventually breaks through to a system A.I that she makes a deal with to her own advantage, but this is a plot I haven’t touched in a while. Really I love everything about her but these are some fun and dominating concepts.

5 PEOPLE ON HERE YOU LOVE, AND WHY.

1. @animus-inspire Where do I start? Seriously. This was unexpected but yet one of the best things that has ever happened in my writing history. I love love love this ship and all the AU’s of it so much! And beyond that, it’s so rare to get me to talk a lot but I can’t seem to ever shut up around you xD. But, I LOVE talking to you and the connection we have and the fact that we have so many stinking ideas all the damn time and they all get played off each other so easily and that we can share the same obsessions and YES WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! But you are also one of the sweetest and most full of life people I know on here and I absolutely love writing with you, you’ve made it so great :3. And you are seriously best Reeve and have made me love all the Reeve. <3

2. @thefirstthaumaturge I’ve known you for about like, well.....well over 10 years xD And I love you more as the years go on. We’ve survived drama days together and now we can laugh about all the stupid RP stuff we did in the past. I also enjoy all of our new RPs and how great its been to see both our OCs grow and thrive in these communities. I also super love talking to you and playing video games with you and watching WestWorld and movies with you. Basically, you make everything super fun and I don’t know what I’d do without you around. I also love how we always manage to say/type the same things at the same time all the damn time xD Digital sisters but its as real as it gets.

3. @shinraweirdscience @xbroken-science @insidious-scientist I love all of my Hojo’s that deal with Izzy’s crazy ass and put up with me so thank you guys! I’m always down for crazy plots and all the trauma that comes with them so don’t ever feel bad about throwing anything at me or damaging Izzy. It’s what makes her her after all. And I find it all a lot of fun. I’m always ears for ideas so let me know!

4. @sadistic-second I don’t write a whole lot with you here but you’re always good company in the voice chats and you make playing games a lot of fun as well. I like our little group we have going on to do all the stuffs. I love all the gifs and icons you make, and the paracord is very creative as well. It’s always cool to see what you can do. Of course I like all the funny things too. @apathetic-ruler I have to say you’re writing is amazing, I love it! I haven’t wrote with your Ru but I love past life Ru xD One of these day’s I’ll figure out what to do with a Rufus I’m sure.

5. @ivory-paragon We don’t write much but I love playing FFXIV with you and being in all your groups. It’s a very fun and enjoyable atmosphere and you make me laugh all the time. If I hadn’t found you I wouldn’t have found any of this awesome community and my great shippy ships that have come out of it. @rikelusshinra I love all of our RP’s and stuff too. You have a super amazing OC that seems to fit right in and I’ve loved writing with Rike. Even if you are busy now. It’s rare Izzy finds ships that work but you are one of those lucky ones that she fits well with and I love all the ideas we play with as well. So to my FFU peeps! Even if we don’t write on tumblr much I still love you both.

Honorable mentions:

@cinderella-gurei God, you are the best Chadley and you break my damn heart all the time in our RPs. Izzy will never forgive herself completely but she’s glad to have you around and so am I! She will protecc forever. <3

@madamdirectcr I love your Scarlet! I want to see what happes :3 @makeupandmateria Another lovely Scarlet I had to mention as well!

5 SONGS EITHER YOU OR YOUR MUSE REGARD AS A ‘GUILTY PLEASURE’ THAT ALWAYS MAKES YOU SMILE.

So okay, I’ve thought about this all day and I’ll do a few categories. Since I revolve around music so heavily and no lie have hundreds of my own music videos in my head for every song I’ve ever heard, yes I’m one of THOSE people. xD

So I’ll start with what I’ve been listening to lately that really fits in with WestWorld Izzy and Logan!Reeve ShinuestiLos xD I can’t seem to get Poker Face out of my head for her and a couple other Lady Gaga songs that fit in Like this one too.

Also I really love these songs but they are so random. This one mostly thanks to ARI, but I can never not listen to it when it comes on. Also Mortal Kombat. This song makes me so fired up every time I hear any variation of it xD. Even now! alkdjfsldjfsdljf, but I do really like this mix.

Then we can’t forget those emo day songs. Mr. Brightside is one I can never resist singing. It’s just so damn good! Then there is Holiday by Greenday and can’t forget Miss Murder by AFI xD

Now I have an extremely long list of electronic type, synth, darkwave, trance, whatever the heck categories they fall under that I just like to call my Robot music xD Here’s a couple with AI themes that I’ll just throw out here. We Appreciate Power and quite literally A.I

And lastly this one reminds me of Midgar so much and Izzy, but I always see her singing this if she ever made a music video. (which apparently she’s made many) But she’d definitely be in front of wall sized windows with Midgar in the background and the labs, and its also why she sometimes refers to it as Electric City, idk who the guy would be singing with her but if you want it to be you just let me know? Lol. After all she is Indistinct. Ill Defined. Uncontrolled. Unconfined.

Tagged by: @animus-inspire (this took me forever Reeeeeve x.x)

Tagging: @thefirstthaumaturge

#THERE I DID IT #Omg #So long #But there we have it xD #Woo!

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veryfantasticstudent · 4 years

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Cyberpunk for the 21st Century: ONF’s “Sukhumvit Swimming”

If I write about a K-pop group, chances are I have been a fan of them for a while. This is not the case for ONF. M-Net’s Road to Kingdom brought this group to my attention, and though I checked out some of their work it is the sextet’s latest comeback, Spin-Off, hooked me to them. The title track for this mini album is “Sukhumvit Swimming”, a tropical house track with a touch of ONF’s signature heavy synths and guitar. The MV continues ONF’s science fiction-inspired scenarios and hones them down to a particular subgenre (my favourite)—cyberpunk. I wouldn’t label any k-pop concept as through-and-through cyberpunk until now, but “Sukhumvit Swimming” borrows and adds enough to that subgenre to be considered a part of that class of literature. The MV borrows from cyberpunk in spirit and setting but combines them in fascinating new ways.

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“Sukhumvit Swimming” by ONF on Woolim Entertainment’s YouTube Channel

Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction that came around in the 1980s and was fascinated by hacker culture. It was was thinking about the Internet, bodily augmentations, AI, mind uploads, all in the setting of dystopian cityscapes were corporates ruled the world. The Cyberpunk archetype is a hacker who uses the oppressive technology of the corporate to figure out the flows of late capital and direct them to his (usually, the protagonists are, unfortunately, male) goal: freedom. The “technology” is generally an Internet-like technology, and hence the “cyber”. The cyberpunk also hacks systems like the cityscape to fight corporate domination. The “punk” came from the rebellious and stylish punk-rocker, and it denotes cyberpunk’s fascination with the power of leather-clad, heavily-mascara-ed punk-pop culture. Neuromancer by William Gibson, Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling, Wetware by Rudy Rucker, and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner are some works that found the tradition in the West. Altered Carbon by Richard K Morgan, The Matrix, and Westworld kept it alive in later decades. Ghost in the Shell, Akira, PsychoPass, Serial Experiments: Lain are some iconic works from Japan that have pushed boundaries for the subgenre. Amidst its neon landscapes, grubby alleyways, gore, and shiny machinery, cyberpunk asks a simple question: what place do we, humans and individuals, have in this “global village” of money and information? Each cyberpunk finds their own answer, and the city always plays an important role in this discovery.

Wyatt rides a tuk-tuk in cyberspace

So, where is Sukhumvit in “Sukhumvit Swimming”? The only thing remotely related to Thailand in the MV seems to be the tuk-tuk that Wyatt drives through a CGI cyberspace landscape. At first glance, even this is jarring—why would one drive a tuk-tuk through cyberspace? The answer is: why not? “Sukhumvit Swimming” insists on mixing the local with the global. The cyberpunk always stays true to their roots even as they dive into popular culture. Cyberspace, in most cyberpunk, is a visual fest where one can look like whatever they want. If one wants to traverse it with a tuk-tuk, so be it. In a way, all the six settings in the MV are Sukhumvit. They are all a bizarre mix of human-nonhuman, past-future, real-unreal, categories that cyberpunk always confuses to question their boundaries. This confusion allows cyberpunk to figure out, in distinct ways, how an individual’s life is embedded in global capital.

These androids are hella creepy. This sequence seems heavily inspired by Westworld, a cyberpunk work set in an amusement park where artificially intelligent android “hosts” gain sentience and rebel against the abuse that the human guests of the park have practiced on the androids for year.

Each setting of the MV evokes Sukhumvit as a tool, and it is what makes “Sukhumvit Swimming” a clever study of cyberpunk. The first setting is Hyojin’s 1920s American railroad. Whether we are to think of the “people” on board with Hyojin as literal androids or grotesquely mechanised human beings, there are disturbingly few differences between androids and people working like clockwork to their schedules in a metropolis. Our cowboy is different from the rest of the occupants on this train; he is not dressed in the stuffy clothes of these robots—he is a (console?) cowboy, a punk, a rebel.

Hyojin as the cowboy.

U, too, seems to be on this train, but he is, well, high. He drinks a bright blue liquid from a glass and things start to swim. With time stopping and MK floating in space, questioning the reality of our disparate, mediate, postmodern existence should not be too difficult for us. In fact, stimulants of various kinds are an integral part of cyberpunk. Apart from their performance-enhancing effects, drugs are always connected to altering/understanding reality much like the technology of the cyberpunk universe.

Kids, don’t do drugs.

Is the virtual world, where we are all information, more real than our world, where we are just expressions of biology? Is the train that U is on real? The minute U consumes that glass, “reality” is up for grabs[1].

The second major setting of this MV features J-US in the sunburnt ruins of Greek columns and skyscrapers.

J-US’ suburnt world. Blade Runner 2049 has very similar visuals to this post-apocalyptic world.

This odd, out-of-time combination is another reason why “cyberpunk” jumped to my mind. Cyberpunk likes to juxtapose history with the present times and ask: what is the place of history in a time when technology has skewed our perception of time? The anxiety of technophobes is often that these revered worlds like the cradle of Western Civilisation will be forgotten. The survival of these cultures without context—just stone columns in sunbaked worlds—reminds us of the tyranny of the object. Long after humans are gone (extinct or only alive in a virtual world), these traces of us will be left. Until then, we can only absorb and re-write these monuments into our present alongside the skyscrapers of the capitalist world—much like the pastiche cityscape of Sukhumvit.

E-Tion is on the moon. The moon landing was faked, btw. Or was it?

E-Tion’s moon landing is a particularly strange setting. The others, in one way or another, can be found on earth, but why is E-Tion on the moon? Distance and travel in this MV are unstable concepts. If one can travel through cyberspace in a tuk-tuk, one can definitely grow flowers on the moon. In a patchwork fantasy world (like Sukhumvit), anything is possible. More than that, scale is another notion “Sukhumvit Swimming” is determined to throw in the trash. When virtual worlds are accessible to us through stimulants and technology, the moon is no longer the symbol of extraordinary achievement or emotion (“shoot for the moon,” it is said). Even the moon can be subsumed in the network of capitalism--just ask Elon Musk.

MK really reminds me of the Master here.

The only setting we are now left with is MK’s scenario with the mysterious machine. It could be the machine that is responsible for these strange visions; it certainly looks like the Twelfth Doctor’s time-travelling machine, the TARDIS, from BBC’s Doctor Who. Perhaps it is even one of the machines from The Matrix, that are determined to keep humans as only bio-powered cells for the energy they can provide (bio-powered batteries would not generate enough energy, by the way. That’s one of the flaws in the Wachowskis’ reasoning). Strangely enough, no-one touches the machine; MK disappears from the scene towards the end of the MV, leaving the machine perpetually working. The machine never stops and the dreamers (assuming that there is a particular “real” world) will not wake up—unless, of course, something brings them out of the illusion.

That brings me to the “storyline” of this MV. There is certainly one, mixed within the fantastic shots of this MV. All the members start from different settings but towards the end, they all arrive in the desert that J-US started from. The trigger? Hyojin readies his gun to shoot at J-US in quite a memorable scene:-

I said this MV likes to mess with scale, didn’t I?

Unexpectedly, Hyojin is the one who is shot. All the members snap out of their “illusions” and end up in the desert with J-US. Everyone is dying or has at least passed out, except J-US who has been in this setting since the beginning. The cyberpunks come together, out of their illusion—or perhaps into one. Time unfreezes and Hyojin is nowhere to be seen on the train. Our cyberpunks have lived and fought in the blink of an eye (or rather, the three-odd minutes that the MV lasts) to disappear with no trace. Fast, suave, and unreal, the cyberpunk is gone once the fight is over. But what have they achieved?

The cyberpunk cityscape is the place for the rebel to explore the strings of corporate domination. In the case of cyberpunk, relations are usually technologies embedded in the logic of capitalism. When ONF creates a temporary Sukhumvit on our screens, they tie together the disparate scenarios of the MV. Now, the hidden relations that linked the moon to a spaghetti Western train and post-apocalyptic world can be read.

If all the members end up in a dystopian, suntanned terrain, it is because this is where all history leads. “Sukhumvit Swimming” is a slow but certain dive of the world into a spiral of destruction there is no coming back from, a process of the destruction of the world that begins slowly but certainly from the days when human beings began to abuse fossil fuels. The trains, the tuk-tuks, the rockets of “Sukhumvit Swimming” are as much a part of the process as the fireworks that explode in front of E-Tion’s moon.

When the MV ends, Time begins its work again, moving inexorably towards the end. Sukhumvit is a tool to understand how the flows of global capital have isolated humans (and even technology) into our own fantastical worlds, worlds as small as our phone screens, without seeing our connections to the outside world. Our work is to make/find our Sukhumvit, our tool for understanding our place in these networks that seem to mysteriously guide our lives. The cyberpunk has disappeared, but there is someone that still remains: it is you, and your battle has just begun.

[1] Stealing this expression from Cavallaro, Dani. Cyberpunk and Cyberculture: Science Fiction and the Works of William Gibson, pp. 38.

#온앤오프 #ONF #스쿰빗스위밍 #sukhumvit swimming #sukhumvit #k-pop #kpop #k-pop comeback #spin off #cyberpunk #technology #thailand #bangkok

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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From Dog Soldiers to The Reckoning: Neil Marshall Revisits His Filmogrpahy

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Ever since launching his career in 2002 with the independent action-horror thriller, Dog Soldiers—a bracing, fresh werewolves-vs.-soldiers exercise—the writer and director Neil Marshall has been devoted to genre filmmaking. His second film, The Descent, is a generally acknowledged modern horror classic, and since then he’s branched out to post-apocalyptic action, historical thrillers and high fantasy before returning again to horror.

His sixth and latest film, The Reckoning, stars Charlotte Kirk (who co-wrote the script) as a young woman who is accused of witchcraft in northern England in 1665 after losing her husband to the Great Plague. With its period setting and story of unjust persecution and hysteria directed against women in particular, The Reckoning (which just premiered on Shudder) channels some of the old Hammer Studios vibe, as well as that of iconic British films on the same topic like Witchfinder General.

For Marshall, The Reckoning represents a return to the genre that gave him his start and to his early independent days, following 2019’s poorly received reboot of the horror-themed Hellboy franchise. The latter film was his first feature in nine years, during which time he directed episodes of high-profile TV shows like Westworld, Hannibal and most notably Game of Thrones while trying to get various theatrical projects off the ground.

With The Reckoning now making its premiere on Shudder, Marshall is already at work on his next film, a horror outing called The Lair. He says it’s “a bit different from The Reckoning… it’s going to be full-on action, monsters, guns, explosions, the works, blood and guts.” With Marshall now seemingly back on track with feature films, we thought this would be a good moment to take a look back at his career to date.

The Beginning

Marshall was born in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England, and he says that he was inspired to become a filmmaker when he saw Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time in his youth:

“I’m definitely a product of the nerd generation of the ’80s, and proud of it,” he confirms. “Raiders is the movie that got me into making movies. I was already a big movie fan, just like anybody. But when I saw Raiders, it just changed everything, as did watching The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark on TV. I just thought, ‘That’s what I want to do with my life,’ and never looked back.”

Interestingly, Marshall says that his one unrealized dream project to date harkens back to the impact that Raiders had on him:

“There’s one in particular, a project called Eagle’s Nest…I always wanted to do my Indiana Jones project, my Raiders kind of project, and Eagle’s Nest is very much in that vein. It’s set during World War II, but it’s not a war movie as such. It’s an adventure/action movie. It’s kind of like Die Hard meets Where Eagles Dare, or Indiana Jones meets James Bond. Spies and soldiers and things. It’s full-on action adventure. That’s my dream project, and I still dream of one day getting it made.”

Pathe

Dog Soldiers (2002)

After attending university, Marshall spent a number of years as a freelance film editor before finally getting the chance to direct his first feature film, Dog Soldiers, from an original screenplay he had written. The taut, low-budget thriller revolved around a squad of British soldiers who are attacked in a remote house by a pack of werewolves. For Marshall, it was his chance at last to pursue his dream of making films.

“It was a six-year process of getting it written and getting it financed and getting it made, and it was just stubborn determination,” the director says. “But finally getting there and finally getting on set was just amazing, so satisfying. It was finally achieving a dream that I set about 20 years earlier, really.”

On whether anything surprised him about his first time as a feature director, he adds, “Well, I had directed stuff before. I’d done some short films and some TV things. This was my first feature, but it wasn’t completely new to me. But I was so well-read at the time. I’d spent my teenage years reading nothing but Starlog and Fantastic Films, and all that kind of stuff and learning how these things work. So it wasn’t a complete surprise. I think the main thing was, is just how exciting it all was.”

Werewolves, which were the film’s monsters, hadn’t been seen on the screen in a while at that time. Marshall suspected this would make the film a refreshing change of pace.

“I didn’t want to do the classic Curse of the Werewolf story, which is essentially what all werewolf films had been up until that point,” says Marshall. “I wanted to do essentially Aliens with werewolves, in which they’re just a ferocious enemy and really difficult to kill, and who they are as people is irrelevant.”

Pathe

The Descent (2005)

Next was Marshall’s 2005 film The Descent, in which six women go exploring in a cave system and discover that the tunnels are inhabited by cannibalistic humanoid creatures. A staple of “best horror of the 2000s” lists ever since its release, The Descent was not only genuinely terrifying but groundbreaking in its use of an all-female cast, which was originally not the case.

“I think when I wrote the first draft of it, it was mixed,” Marshall recalls. “When I pitched the treatment, I think then it was a mixed group. I’d done such a testosterone group of men or whatever with Dog Soldiers, part of me was like, ‘Well, let’s just do the complete opposite of that.’

“Then the more research I did into the world of caving and climbing and outdoor sports, it turns out, it’s a really heavily populated by women, and they do everything that the men do. So I just kind of figured, well, why not? Why not have an all-female group? It makes it very different. It made it different from anything that I’d seen for a while, and it came about that way.”

On the inspiration for the horrifying creatures in the caves, called “crawlers?”

“The creatures just came from trying to pare things down to a very, very basic form. I had great difficulty with the werewolves on Dog Soldiers. The guys in the suits, they couldn’t see very well. They were on stilts, so they were really limited in how they could move. Even for a practical effect, they couldn’t move around that well. I wanted to dispense with all that and have the crawlers be as freeform as possible.

“The whole point of the crawlers was that they were meant to be humans who evolved to live in caves,” he continues. “They’re the caveman that stayed in the cave. Whereas the rest of us left and evolved, they stayed in the caves and devolved to live in darkness. They were always essentially going to be human, so that really just required some basic prosthetics. But beyond that, they would just be people. That gave me so much more freedom of movement and allowed them to be fast and agile.”

Universal

Doomsday (2008)

The Descent was a critical and financial success, earning some $57 million on a budget of less than $5 million. It opened the doors for Marshall to begin entertaining offers to direct bigger films, and soon Rogue Pictures (a division of Universal) gave the director a budget of more than $24 million to make Doomsday, his homage to post-apocalyptic action movies of the ‘70s and ‘80s in which Scotland is sealed off due to a deadly virus.

“Doomsday touches upon two things that have cropped up in later work,” Marshall says. “One was the building of a wall to separate two countries, particularly England and Scotland. And then the other one is a viral outbreak, which comes into play in The Reckoning, as well. And the wall reappears in Centurion. It also, I guess, figured in my Game of Thrones episode.”

On the eerie relevancy of doing a movie about a country sealed off because of a viral outbreak, he says, “It was very strange that end of last year, I think it was, when the second wave [of COVID-19] hit, that they closed off the border between England and Scotland. I just thought, ‘This is Doomsday. It’s happening right now. Only a matter of time before they build a wall.’ But yeah, it has been quite scary, especially with The Reckoning, as well. Who could have seen it coming, you know?”

Doomsday was also the first time Marshall had major Hollywood studio resources to work with, which made it a strikingly different experience.

“It was great having much better resources to do a lot more crashes and explosions and things like that. It was a big action movie, it required all those bells and whistles, and we got them all, so that was fantastic… We had more time to shoot it, which was great. I loved that. Because we were filming it down in Cape Town, in South Africa, we didn’t really have the studio on our backs at all. We were let loose to do it. It was one of the most fun experiences I’ve had making a movie.”

Magnet Releasing

Centurion (2010)

For his next film, Marshall turned to the early history of Britain and its resistance to the Roman Empire for inspiration. The result was Centurion, which starred Michael Fassbender, Dominic West and Olga Kurylenko in a violent tale based on the legendary disappearance of the Roman Empire’s Ninth Spanish Legion in what is now northern England and Scotland in the second century. A.D.

“It’s very loosely based,” Marshall explains. “It’s based more on a legend than the history. The history unfortunately disproved the legend. It’s a classic example of the quote, ‘When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.’ The facts aren’t very interesting, but that’s historians doing their thing. Until then, it was a legend that I really liked, the legend of the 9th Legion that marched into Scotland and disappeared without a trace.”

Even though historians have since argued that the Legion wasn’t wiped out in battle with northern England or Pictish tribes as long believed, Marshall was still fascinated with the story:

“My whole kind of thing was, ‘Well, why and how? If it disappeared, how did they disappear? Did none of them survive? If no one survived, how do we even know about it?’ So that’s when I came up with the story of the lone survivor and trying to explain it in logical terms. Nothing supernatural or anything of that, but logical terms of how they were massacred and why.”

As with several others of his films, Marshall also saw contemporary reflections in the story.

“When we were making it, it seemed very relevant to what was going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, with the insurgents fighting the oppressors. Telling the story from the Romans’ point of view made it a bit more interesting, because they were the invading army and the other side were freedom fighters. Because we were telling the Romans point of view, it was kind of like, ‘Well, they’re our heroes—but are they?’ I just thought that was really, really interesting.”

Lionsgate

Hellboy (2019)

Hellboy, which was not a sequel to the two films made by Guillermo del Toro and which starred Ron Perlman, featured David Harbour as the title demon from Mike Mignola’s long-running comics. Marshall’s first feature in nine years landed with a loud thud both at the box office and with critics.

“It was one of those things,” the director says now. “The reason I was away from features for nine years was not out of choice. I was trying to get my features made during that time. But because of the revolution in television, there was a certain kind of budget level that I had been working in that disappeared from features and was now going into television, during a transition period of the last 10, 15 years. And I couldn’t find anybody to finance films at that kind of level.”

Game of Thrones at 10: The Series That Changed TV Forever

By David Crow

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The Best Horror Movies of 2020

By Rosie Fletcher and 4 others

Marshall says that when he was initially approached about Hellboy, the idea was to create more of a straight forward horror movie version of the character:

“That appealed to me, and obviously getting a chance to do a feature was a big thing. Despite my reservations or whatever, I jumped at it, because it was a chance to do a feature after nine years. I wanted to get back in the game. But I made an unwise decision, because I should have based my choice purely on whether the script was any good. Unfortunately, the script was never any good, and there’s only so much a director can do.”

Marshall notes that the problems with the Hellboy script arose from confusion over what kind of film it was supposed to be.

“I’ve said it a few times before, you can’t polish a turd. Even the best director in the world can’t make a masterpiece out of a script that was substandard. This was a confused script from the start, combining different stories and sticking rigidly to the comics, which worked fine as graphic novels. But when you translate them to the screen, there are gaping plot holes.

“Unfortunately, the producers just didn’t care. They brought me in so they could tell me what to do. They didn’t really want to make a horror version of it at all, because I was the most experienced horror person involved in the entire production, and I wasn’t allowed to touch the script. I wasn’t allowed to bring any kind of horror essence to it. So it just ended up as a disaster, really. It was just a mess, and a deeply unpleasant experience. That’s the price that I paid for making the wrong choice, or making it for the wrong reasons specifically.”

Shudder

The Reckoning (2021)

Going back to his roots with The Reckoning was a “breath of fresh air” after Hellboy, Marshall says in 2021.

“It was the complete opposite,” he explains. “On Hellboy, I had lots of money and no creative input. On this one, I had full creative control over the piece and no money. But that was a good sacrifice to make because the experience of making The Reckoning—even though we had less money, less time, whatever—was just creatively way more satisfying. It was good to just get back to my roots and get stuck in there and make this little movie that I’m really proud of.”

The director says that he wanted to capture the tone of some of the iconic Hammer horrors from the ‘60s and ‘70s with The Reckoning while the subject matter touched on themes expressed in horror classics like Witchfinder General or Mark of the Devil.

“I felt that there hadn’t really been anything made in that particular period or about that kind of subject matter, the witch hunter in particular,” says Marshall. “There have been witch movies obviously, but not the witch hunter. That kind of vibe, and that Hammer kind of vibe as well, hadn’t been done for a while. But the reason to do it at all was because I felt that it was relevant today for a modern audience… witch hunts are still going on today. They just take on a different form. And certainly, misogyny and female persecution has not gone anywhere in the intervening hundreds of years since our story took place.”

Marshall also notes that he missed being part of the horror film festival circuit, a thriving subculture in its own right.

“I actually wanted to get back on the horror circuit, as far as the festival circuit is concerned, because I loved that experience with my first movie,” he explains. “Going around the world, going to these incredible festivals, meeting the fans, engaging with the fans and also meeting other filmmakers. It’s so inspiring doing that. That was my hope with The Reckoning, but of course, all that went out the window with COVID. But fingers crossed, we’ll be back full strength and next year will be great.”

The Reckoning is currently streaming on Shudder.

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kentonramsey · 4 years

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Milan Fashion Week Was As Extra As Ever

If New York Fashion Week can be defined as, at times, too cool for its own good, Milan Fashion Week remains a site of earnest decadence; of showgoers dressed to the nines even early in the morning; of runways boasting sequins, fringe, beading, tulle, and other super-feminine detailing. What the week lacked, though, was the kind of integration of social justice issues into runway performances that other cities have begun to do, with just a few exceptions — Vogue Italia announced a partnership with Yoox to support emerging sustainable designers, and Diesel hosted an event all about upcycling. For the most part, though, paper invites piled up and runways were covered in plastic. Meanwhile, Paloma Elsesser and Jill Kortleve made history as the first plus-sized models to walk in Fendi. They were, however, the only plus models I spotted for the entire week, leading me to question whether or not designers in this beautiful city are willing to accommodate their increasingly vocal customer bases. Fur was also extremely present at the shows of many major designers, an interesting choice given the growing dissidence towards its use in fashion (though many argue that fur is more sustainable than synthetic options). All that being said, the craftsmanship displayed on the runways was inspiring, and there were several very clear trends that emerged over the course of the week. From puffy sleeves to suits with fringe, it seems designers in Milan have one thing on the brain: Making a statement. Subtlety has no place in Milan’s fashion scene, where the louder the piece, the better. Ahead, our favorite trends from Milan Fashion Week.

Westworld Extras Corseted dresses with layers of voluminous, lacy ruffles dominated the runways, in a Western-saloon-meets-Renaissance vein. At Gucci, gowns were large, romantic, and classic. At Fendi, they were figure-hugging, the lace draped and belted for a more modern feel. And at Moschino, gowns were finished with enormous bustles, an ironic throwback made to feel contemporary with extremely short hemlines. GucciPhoto by Estrop/Getty Images.

MoschinoPhoto by Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.

FendiPhoto Courtesy of Fendi.

Fringe Benefits As models moved down countless runways, fringe swirled around them, hypnotically bouncing and swaying. At Prada, suiting was sharply tailored and then decorated with swaying fringe of various thickness, over and under blazers, trousers, and skirts. Fringe played heavily at Bottega Veneta, too, decorating the edges of sweaters, bags, dresses, and coats, in colors that included a very pleasing kiwi green. More fringe was seen at Philosophy Di Lorenzo Serafini, Salvatore Ferragamo, Alberta Ferreti, and Fendi, until it became so ubiquitous that I began to think ahead to fall 2020: Will we be able to wear anything without fringe? Bottega VenetaPhoto by Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.

PradaPhoto by Estrop/Getty Images.

Jil SanderPhoto by Estrop/Getty Images.

Alberta FerrettiPhoto by Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.

Statement Sleeves An echo from the U.S. awards season and New York Fashion Week, sleeves in Milan were bigger, frillier, and louder than ever. It’s perhaps the most refreshing and thorough update to the silhouettes that dominated the 2010s. This new decade is starting off with strong arms for women, and I’m living for it. At Fendi, shoulder lines dropped and sleeves billowed outwards. At Max Mara, sleeves sprouted layers of frills. It was ‘80s-meets-Renaissance-meets-future, a new kind of power dressing for the woman who isn’t afraid to take up space. Fendi Photo Courtesy of Fendi.

Max MaraPhoto by Pietro D'Aprano/Getty Images.

Corporate Luxe In sharp contrast to frills and bows, many shows also including suiting, and even more shows including head-to-toe gray pantsuits. Max Mara, Fendi, Prada, Ferragamo, and more all took turns adding a unique spin to this otherwise classic (and, typically, relatively boring) wardrobe staple, with wide legs, high waists, big shoulders, and, yes, sometimes fringe and ruffles. The perfect answer to your work-related clothing crisis, these gray suits for fall will look as good with a silk blouse during the day as a lacy cami at night. FerragamoPhoto by Estrop/Getty Images.

Max MaraPhoto by Victor Boyko/Getty Images.

PradaPhoto by Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.

Head-To-Toe Leather There is probably one week per year in New York City when leather is weather-appropriate, but in Milan, it’s pretty much the It-item for fall 2020. From yellow leather shirt dresses at Fendi to patchwork leather dresses over matching pants at Marni, buttery leather of all shades and shapes was layered with — well, more leather. MarniPhoto by Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.

FendiPhoto Courtesy of Fendi.

Jil SanderPhoto by Estrop/Getty Images.

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Milan Fashion Week Was As Extra As Ever published first on https://mariakistler.tumblr.com/

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fuckyeahevanrwood · 7 years

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Getting dressed with Evan Rachel Wood

Truly, there has never been a better, or more beautiful, robot to fall in love with than Evan Rachel Wood as Dolores on HBO’s Westworld. By turns docile or alluring, then menacing and verging on insane, Dolores is one of the most complex portrayals of womanhood currently on screen, in a year packed with strong roles for actresses. What’s most brilliant about Wood’s portrayal is the tenderness she gives to Dolores at what should be her most robotic, such as when she’s being quizzed by her human overlords or struggling to remember a past life. One senses the deep well of emotion that Wood, with her watchful eyes, draws upon to make the character heartbreakingly human.

This evening, however, Wood is far from robotic as her team readies her for the Emmys in the home she is renting in Silver Lake (a respite from the deserts of Utah, where Westworld is filmed). She laughs that when she’s asked about her fitness regimen—a requisite for actresses, it seems—she can now say it’s horseback riding and gunslinging, both of which feature heavily on the show. In person she is quick to laugh, whether at herself or her rather ancient-seeming cat, a world away from her intense roles.

Wood’s red carpet style is brilliantly distinctive, and she eschews the nude strapless gowns that many actresses and their stylists adore. Tonight she is in a brilliant white tuxedo (shoulderless, obviously) custom created by Jeremy Scott for the House of Moschino, her hair slicked back into a sharp, modern chignon. Tonight, she laughs, she wants a Moon Child from The Neverending Story look—dewy and radiant in white.

Below, the most chic woman to conquer the Wild West discusses disrupting the red carpet, her love of Bowie, and the secret to looking good—Moon Juice.

How do you feel in general about the getting-ready process?

I think if you have the right team and the right vibe, and if you approach it with the mind-set of having fun instead of the pressure of looking good and driving yourself crazy, then it’s actually a really nice, meditative place to go to before you walk into a chaotic space. And I actually like the people who do my hair and makeup! Toby and I have been working together since I was 21, and John and I have been working together a few years. So it’s nice; it’s like a fun get-together with friends.

You’re known for a directional beauty look.

Growing up, I was really inspired by David Bowie, and how you couldn’t put him in a box. He was always reinventing himself, and he really led the way for glam rock and androgyny. So that was the world I felt most comfortable in.

I think because it’s easy to fall into a trap—not of being vain, necesarily, but caving to the pressure of what you think people want you to be in this industry. For me it’s just always been kind of enjoyable if it was about expression, and trying to convey a certain vibe or idea. Something that I know will inspire a feeling in somebody. Especially now. I feel like if you’re a woman in pop culture right now, you can’t help but feel like you have some kind of responsibility on your shoulders to inspire people to be who they are. So that comes into play.

The red carpet is very repressed.

Small gestures go a long way, surprisingly! Yes, I wore an outfit at an event, but there was a message behind it. And it’s the message that I think really stuck with people.

There’s definitely a message in Dolores’ rather straitlaced outfits. Do you enjoy the period aspect of the show?

The show is fun because Dolores is about four different characters at once; she has so many versions of her being. It was fun to really go and do something that I hadn’t done before, so far in the opposite direction. She is this very stereotypical Disney princess, but there was always supposed to be something underneath that the guests were supposed to be drawn to.

It was supposed to be this deeper wisdom and consciousness. And I think every season is really going to be kind of different. I don’t think any of us are always going to be doing the same thing. We’ll discover different parts and characters. That’s what really drew me to it: I got to play the really genuine, sweet farm girl, but also a very highly intelligent computer, and merge with this other, darker entity. And surf in and out of all the turbulence. So it was multitasking like no other role I’ve played.

The Season 2 teaser has just released, and it’s rather dramatic, to say the least.

[Wood laughs] Oh, man. She’s a very different beast!

The show builds very slowly and incrementally.

You feel like you’ve really earned it when it happens. I think that’s why the trailer got such a strong reaction, because people have been rooting for her to break free and be in control of her own destiny, and I think to see her finally on the front lines is really satisfying.

Do you wear makeup when you’re not working?

I don’t wear makeup. I used to! I feel like I’ve gone through every makeup phase and really explored it. And I still do it, but I got to the point where I wear so much makeup for my job that when I’m not doing a photo shoot or Westworld or a film, I don’t wear any. Just to save my skin, really. But it’s kind of nice.

Oh, and sunscreen! Honestly. That’s it. I’m so pale as it is, I have to wear sunscreen every day, but that’s the secret to not aging. Especially now. Slather it on!

Do you have a self-care regimen that’s not makeup-based?

After working on Westworld, I really understand why there is a reason to take care of yourself, because the stuff we actors have to put our bodies through is really intense. And especially on that show—it’s incredibly physical, we’re in 113-degree weather, and this season is much more chaotic, so there’s a lot more physical stuff. You’re also putting your emotions through the ringer, so that takes a toll on your body. If you don’t take care of yourself, you’re going to get hurt. So it’s a necessity. I do a lot of bone broth and turmeric. I don’t usually eat a big breakfast; I just have a protein shake. I drink as many juices as I can because I hate eating salads. I just kind of down that [laughs].

What’s it been like spending months on a horse? Delores is always on the run!

I’ve been riding horses since I was a kid. I started out riding English, and then Western. I wanted to barrel race, but I was working already. And now I’m doing all kinds of stuff. But it’s great, because I feel really safe and secure in my ability and on that set, because they have the best in the business. Sometimes I get home from work and I just can’t believe what I’ve been doing all day. No one would ever believe me.

#evan rachel wood #Interviews #emmys #violet grey #interview 2017 #interview #emmys 2017 #article #articles 2017 #articles

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midnightsnackxx · 4 years

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sci fi plot that I want:

Heavily-Inspired by HBO’s Westworld series.

In this future world, super-realistic androids called hosts can be crafted to meet a person’s every desire. Hosts will be imbued with select memories, preferences, quirks, drives and one major keystone that is central to their being. Hosts are thus far only available for purchase to an elite class of people who can afford them, with the majority of these folks looking for hyper-real sex dolls --but one well-meaning uber-rich soul seeks to purchase/design a host to be the ideal mate for their loved one who has had a less than terrific romantic history. Muse A is the loved one, Muse B is the host. Picture a “chance encounter” followed by a “whirlwind romance” that leaves Muse A head over heels for Muse B-- until the day when Muse B malfunctions or is fatally wounded (or would be if they were actually human) and the shock Muse A (and to an extent Muse B) experiences when they both come to realize the truth!!

#wanted plot

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eyeofhorus237 · 4 years

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Golden Age (1978–1984)

Jumpstarted by the massive success of John Carpenter's Halloween, the era commonly cited as the Golden Age of slasher films is 1978–1984, with some scholars citing over 100 similar films released over the six-year period.[23][10][5] Despite most films receiving negative reviews, many Golden Age slasher films were extremely profitable and have established cult followings.[6] Many films reused Halloween's template of a murderous figure stalking teens, though they escalated the gore and nudity from Carpenter's restrained film. Golden Age slasher films exploited dangers lurking in American institutions such as high schools, colleges, summer camps, and hospitals.[64]

1978

Cashing in on the drive-in success of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and The Hills Have Eyes (1977), The Toolbox Murders was quickly and cheaply shot but did not generate the interest of the former films. Exploitative Killer's Delight is a San Francisco-set serial killer story claiming to take inspiration from Ted Bundy and the Zodiac Killer.[65] Leading up to Halloween's October release were August's gialli-inspired Eyes of Laura Mars (written by John Carpenter) and September's "babysitter in peril" TV Movie Are You in the House Alone? Of them, The Eyes of Laura Mars grossed $20 million against a $7 million budget.[66]

Influenced by the French New Wave's Eyes Without a Face (1960), science fiction thriller Westworld (1973) and Black Christmas (1974), Halloween was directed, composed and co-written by Carpenter, who co-wrote it with his then-girlfriend and producing partner Debra Hill on a budget of $300,000 provided by Syrian-American producer Moustapha Akkad. To minimize costs, locations were reduced and time took place over a brief period.[67]Jamie Lee Curtis, daughter of Janet Leigh, was cast as the heroine Laurie Strode while veteran actor Donald Pleasence was cast as Dr. Sam Loomis, an homage to John Gavin's character in Psycho.[67]Halloween's opening tracks a six-year-old's point-of-view as he kills his older sister, a scene emulated in numerous films such as Blow Out (1981) and The Funhouse (1981). Carpenter denies writing sexually active teens to be victims in favor of a virginal "final girl" survivor, though subsequent filmmakers copied what appeared to be a "sex-equals-death" mantra.

When shown an early cut of Halloween without a musical score, all major American studios declined to distribute it, one executive even remarking that it was not scary. Carpenter added music himself, and the film was distributed locally in four Kansas City theaters through Akkad's Compass International Pictures in October 1978. Word-of-mouth made the movie a sleeper hit that was selected to screen at the November 1978 Chicago Film Festival, where the country's major critics acclaimed it. Halloween grew into a major box office success, grossing over $70 million worldwide and selling over 20 million tickets in North America, becoming the most profitable independent film until being surpassed by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990).[67]

1979

Though the telekinesis slasher Tourist Trap was initially unsuccessful, it has undergone a reappraisal by fans. 1979's most successful slasher was Fred Walton's When a Stranger Calls, which sold 8.5 million tickets in North America. Its success has largely been credited to its opening scene, in which a babysitter (Carol Kane) is taunted by a caller who repeatedly asks, "Have you checked the children?"[68] Less successful were Ray Dennis Steckler's burlesque slasher The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher and Abel Ferrara's The Driller Killer, both of which featured gratuitous on-screen violence against vagrant people.

1980

The election of Ronald Reagan as the 40th President of the United States drew in a new age of conservatism that ushered concern of rising violence on film.[23][1] The slasher film, at the height of its commercial power, also became the center of a political and cultural maelstrom. Sean S. Cunningham's sleeper hit Friday the 13th was the year's most commercially successful slasher film, grossing more than $59.7 million and selling nearly 15 million tickets in North America.[69] Despite a financial success, distributor Paramount Pictures was criticized for "lowering" itself to release a violent exploitation film, with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert famously despising the film; Siskel, in his Chicago Tribune review, revealed the identity and fate of the film's killer in an attempt to hurt its box office and provided the address of the chairman of Paramount Pictures for viewers to complain.[70] The MPAA was criticized for allowing Friday the 13th an R rating, but its violence would inspire gorier films to follow, as it set a new bar for acceptable levels of on-screen violence. The criticisms that began with Friday the 13th would lead to the genre's eventual decline in subsequent years.[71]

The small-budget thrillers Silent Scream and Prom Night were box office hits with $7.9 and $14.8 million, respectively.[72] Jamie Lee Curtis starred in the independent Prom Night, as well studio films Terror Train and The Fog to earn her "scream queen" title.[9]MGM's the Halloween-clone He Knows You're Alone sold nearly 2 million tickets, though Paramount Pictures John Huston-directed Phobia only sold an estimated 22,000 tickets.[72] Two high-profile slasher-thrillers were met with protest; William Friedkin's Cruising and Gordon Willis' Windows, both of which equate homosexuality with psychosis; Cruising drew protests from gay rights groups, and though it pre-dates the AIDS crisis, the film's portrayal of the gay community fueled subsequent backlash once the virus became an epidemic.[73][23]

Low budget exploitative films New Year's Evil, Don't Go in the House and Don't Answer the Phone! were called-out for misogyny that dwelled on the suffering of females exclusively.[8] Acclaimed filmmaker Brian De Palma's Psycho-homage Dressed to Kill drew a wave of protest from the National Organization for Women (NOW), who picketed the film's screening on the University of Iowa campus.[74] The year's most controversial slashers was William Lustig's Maniac, about a schizophrenic serial killer in New York. Maniac was maligned by critics; Vincent Canby of The New York Times said that watching the film was like "watching someone else throw up."[75] Lustig released the film unrated on American screens, sidestepping the MPAA to still bring in $6 million at the box office.[76][72]

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho's influence was felt two decades later in Funeral Home[77] and The Unseen.[78]Ridley Scott's successful Alien (1979) spawned its own sci-fi-horror subgenre that included slasher films Scared to Death[79] and Without Warning. The $86.4 million box office success of The Amityville Horror (1979)[72] spurred an interest in the supernatural, from The Boogeyman to the Bigfoot slasher Night of the Demon. Joe D'Amato's gruesome Italian horror film Antropophagus and the Australian slasher Nightmares showed that the genre was spreading internationally.[80]

1981

Slasher films reached a saturation point in 1981, as heavily promoted movies like My Bloody Valentine and The Burning were box office failures.[23][10][72] After the success of Friday the 13th, Paramount Pictures picked up My Bloody Valentine with hopes to achieve similar success. The film became the subject of intense scrutiny in the wake of John Lennon's murder, and was released heavily edited; lacking the draw of gore, My Bloody Valentine barely sold 2 million tickets in North America, much less than the 15 million sold by Friday the 13th the year beforehand.[72] Thematically similar to My Bloody Valentine, The Prowler hoped to lure an audience with gore effects by Friday the 13th's Tom Savini but large MPAA edits contributed to its failure to find a nationwide distributor.[23] Suffering similar censorship was The Burning, which also employed Savini's special effects, though it does mark the feature film debuts of Brad Grey, Holly Hunter, Jason Alexander, Fisher Stevens, Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein (The Burning was a film named in Harvey Weinstein's sexual abuse allegations).[81]

Profits of Halloween and Friday the 13th drew studio interest, to varying success. Warner Bros.'s Eyes of a Stranger ($1.1 million) and Night School ($1.2 million), Paramount Pictures' The Fan ($3 million), Universal Pictures' The Funhouse ($8 million), and Columbia Pictures' Happy Birthday to Me ($10 million).[72]CBS' TV movie, Dark Night of the Scarecrow brought the genre to the small screen.[23] Two sequels had bigger body counts and more gore than their predecessors, but not higher box office intakes; Friday the 13th Part 2 sold 7.8 million tickets and Halloween II sold 9.2 million; both sequels sold around half of their original film's tickets, though they were still very popular (Halloween II was the second highest-grossing horror film of the year behind An American Werewolf in London).[72]

Independent companies churned out slasher films Final Exam, Bloody Birthday, Hell Night, Don't Go in the Woods... Alone!, Wes Craven's Deadly Blessing and Graduation Day.[72] Fantasy and sci-fi genres continued to blend with the slasher film in Strange Behavior, GhostKeeper and EvilSpeak. The international market found Italy's Absurd and Madhouse and Germany's Bloody Moon.

1982

Straight-to-video productions cut costs to maximize profit. The independent horror film Madman opened in New York City's top 10, according to Variety, but soon fell out of theaters for a much healthier life on home video.[23]The Dorm That Dripped Blood and Honeymoon Horror, each made for between $50–90,000, became successful in the early days of VHS.[72] Because of this change, independent productions began having difficulties finding theatrical distribution. Girls Nite Out had a very limited release in 1982 but was re-released in 1984 in more theaters until finally finding a home on VHS. Paul Lynch's Humongous was released through AVCO Embassy Pictures, but a change in management severely limited the film's theatrical release. Films such as Hospital Massacre and Night Warning enjoyed strong home rentals from video stores, though Dark Sanity, The Forest, Unhinged, Trick or Treats, and Island of Blood fell into obscurity with little theatrical releases and only sub-par video transfers.[82]

Supernatural slasher films continued to build in popularity with The Slayer, The Incubus, Blood Song, Don't Go to Sleep and Superstition (the supernatural-themed Halloween III: Season of the Witch, though part of the Halloween franchise, does not adhere to the slasher film formula). Alone in the Dark was New Line Cinema's first feature film, released to little revenue and initially dismissed by critics, though the film has gained critical reappraisal. Director Amy Holden Jones and writer Rita Mae Brown gender-swapped to showcase exploitative violence against men in The Slumber Party Massacre,[82] while Visiting Hours pitted liberal feminism against macho right-wing bigotry with exploitative results.

Friday the 13th Part III, the first slasher trilogy, was an enormous success, selling 12 million tickets and dethroning E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial from the top of the box office.[72] The film's iconic hockey mask has grown to pop-culture iconography. Universal Pictures had a tiny release for Death Valley, while Columbia Pictures found modest success with Silent Rage. Independent distributor Embassy Pictures released The Seduction to a surprising $11 million, an erotic slasher-thriller that predates blockbusters Fatal Attraction (1987) and Basic Instinct (1992) by several years.[72]

Internationally, Australia released Next of Kin while Puerto Rico's Pieces was filmed in Boston and Madrid by an Italian-American producer with a Spanish director. Italian gialli saw slasher film influences in their releases for Sergio Martino's The Scorpion with Two Tails, Lucio Fulci's The New York Ripper and Dario Argento's Tenebrae.[82]

#slasher film

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acousmetre-blog · 7 years

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My Top 10 Film and TV Soundtracks of 2016

So I realize this is hella late. But I’ve had this list sitting on my computer since the beginning of 2017, and some of these films might get an in depth analysis in the future so you might as well know they’re my favorites first.

To get it out of the way, here are some of my honorable mentions: Luke Cage, Jason Bourne, Rogue One, Deadpool and Moana. I loved a lot of movies (and TV) in 2016 and technically my favorites list keeps going, so the music in these mentions was amazing, just not as impactful as my top 10. Also, my least favorite film music of 2016 was in Fences. It was poorly mixed and not timed well with the action or emotion on screen.

10. Nerve

Last but not least - inventive action flick, Nerve, directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schuman with original music by Rob Simonsen. Simonsen added a fresh electronic pulse that sounds like 80s synth keyboards with a remixing taste that takes this soundtrack to present day.

9. The Neon Demon

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, this arthouse film is also full to the brim of electronica. But this tops Nerve because Cliff Martinez’s electronic world is just as lush as the bright blues and pinks of Refn. There is a breadth to his music, an intimacy to a single wavering note or a heavily reverbed music box melody, which is contrasted by a beating, full sonic spectrum experience matching the laser show on screen.

8. Hidden Figures

So I wouldn’t normally include a film score with Hans Zimmer’s name in my top ten (I might explain this point at a later time), but Hidden Figures earns this high spot for the work of Pharrell Williams, with Janelle Monae and Alicia Keys. The timing of the inspirational and happy pop music in the film makes Hidden Figures feel like a documentary: the audience paid attention to the important dialogue and then rejoiced with Pharrell’s catchy tunes as the strong women stride forward.

7. The Secret Life of Pets

This score by Alexandre Desplat felt like a return to a more classic style of animation, a Mickey Mouse era where music was considered more important than dialogue or sound effects. In The Secret Life of Pets the music perfectly hit every leap and laugh, without feeling overdone.

6. Jackie

This doesn’t happen often enough. Female composer, nominated for an Oscar and a BAFTA. You bet I was there opening weekend to hear the music of one of my favorites, Mica Levi. Jackie is a subtle and intimate film and her music reflected that with beautiful, close mic-ed chamber strings.

5. Kubo and the Two Strings

Among top Hollywood composers I think that Dario Marianelli as the widest range of styles. In opposition to Secret Life of Pets very happy score for a children’s movie, Marianelli’s music in Kubo and the Two Strings shows that an animated film can be just as serious and dramatic as any other film. Most of the score centers around Kubo’s magical instrument, and the lush accompaniment Marianelli creates around it. The inclusion of both Japanese and Western instruments and melodies and the combinations they create in the score gives a new musical color to an already colorful film.

4. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Want to return to the land of witchcraft and wizardry, but have all the Harry Potter movies and soundtrack memorized? Fantastic Beasts and James Newton Howard’s score will fill your Potter-void. A blend of Patrick Doyle’s Goblet of Fire score and Aaron Copland, perfect for the new American magical adventure. My favorite moment of music and visuals coming together was when we are first introduced to the awe inspiring Macusa building. Amazing.

3. Westworld

Ramin Djawadi’s score for Westworld manages to carry the emotional weight for all the complex story-lines that happen in Westworld. I loved the show and I very much loved how intricately the score wove in and out. The score fits well using recurring, repetitive themes that change as characters discover their own storylines. Ramin Djawadi used more synthesized sounds in the control room areas and more orchestra, western sounds out in the park. And the player piano!

2. La La Land

So I will 100% admit that I wrote this list while I was still swept up in the La La Land craze. I will not admit to how many times I saw La La Land in theaters because it’s outrageous. I will say that after many months of time away from the craze, Justin Hurwitz’s music stands up as a musical for the young creative. The music is catchy without being formulaic, and the lyrics are extremely emotive. My favorite song is “Audition (Fools Who Dream)”. I know there are many naysayers who wanted something else from this movie, but for me it was exactly what I needed.

1. Arrival

The up-and-coming combination of director Denis Villeneuve and composer Johann Johannsson can’t do much wrong in my book. Johannsson’s music for Arrival is more synthesized and ethereal than his music for Sicario, a better fit for the stand alone sci-fi. Also the use of a small chamber choir with many different melodic lines mirrors the importance of language in the film. Johannsson is really in his element with the combined electronics and live chamber groups, orchestrates both together beautifully and his synthesized sounds are equally expressive. Arrival’s score perfectly matched the impressive and interesting cinematography.

Well there you have it, a very late list. My last thought as I wrote out all these descriptions was how most of these do not have the full Hollywood blockbuster orchestra. I’m more fascinated by great uses of electronics/synthesizers chamber groups and pop (in the case of Hidden Figures and La La Land, kinda). There certainly were plenty of films out in 2016 with full orchestral scores but will there be a shift in the Hollywood sound? If so, I’ll be here commenting and analyzing.

#top 10 #film music #soundtracks #2016 #la la land #arrival #fbawtft #hidden figures #jackie #list

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joanneartmangallery · 5 years

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West World: Previewing “The Wild Bunch” at JoAnne Artman, New York

There are few subjects in American history that can ignite the imagination as much as the mystery, romance, and mythology associated with the American Frontier. The theme of the Wild West has long been popular in American art, film, and literature. In HBO’s Westworld, the sci-fi drama explores the fascination and romanticism associated with the Wild West. Set in a time known for adventure, danger, and excitement, the American Southwest is a great veneer for the futuristic theme park while providing a blank slate to explore the individualistic spirit, exploration, lawlessness, and untouched nature of the era.

The romance of the Old West and the temptation of corruption and vigilantism that juxtaposes its unbridled purity reminds modernity of the freedoms it represents in our imaginations. Visually mythologized by the vast spaces and liberties inherent in the genre, the aura of a land continually regenerated through dreams of independence and gratification remains an innovative locale for both the entertainment industry and for consumers’ fantasy.

Image Courtesy: HBO

Often, the visual imagery associated with the Wild West and depictions of Western Expansion is heavily tied in with the folklore that has been created around the Wild West and Native American tradition. Artists Billy Schenck, Greg Miller and America Martin all have their own particular ties to the vast landscape and history of the region that was once considered the Frontier. In their recent bodies of work, each artist independently explores this history through imagery sourced from both personal narrative as well as popular culture.

Billy Schenck, Under Pressure, Oil on Canvas, 46 5/8 x 36 5/8 inches.

Billy Schenck utilizes specific frames of reference in his oil on canvas depictions of the American West, establishing visual links between notable moments of American and film history, along with the history of visual modes of production. Frequent motifs in Schenck’s work include heroes, villains, the seductive femme fatale, as well as alluring imagery of Native American figures, frequently juxtaposed with subversive text and a pop sensibility.

“For me, the western myth is a metaphor for many aspects of life in general. It has the ability to keep expanding like a parallel to the expanding universe. If you look at every caption painting I have done since the mid 1980s (see Under Pressure above), every single one takes on some aspect of every western cliché? there is, and undermines it and turns it on its head,” says Schenck.

Greg Miller, Outlaws, Acrylic, Collage Paper, Resin on Panel, 70 x 45 inches.

Greg Miller’s mixed media approach ties together the history of Pop Art, the processes of collage and assemblage as well as the concepts of urban decay and collective memory. “The Wild West represents the past, present, and future,” he explains. “I construct and deconstruct the truth between urban streetscape and history. I am always inspired by this; it’s in my blood.”

Utilizing collected paper ephemera, Miller creates tangible, evocative, visual narratives across his compositions through both image and text. Often using historical texts, illustrations, newspaper and photographs as a base, Miller completes the works with elements of typography as well as the painted form resulting in visual landscapes of great narrative depth. His unique brand of Americana celebrates ties to iconic imagery that transcends the passage of time.

America Martin, Untitled Native, Oil & Acrylic on Paper, 61.5 x 48.5 inches.

LA-based America Martin often treats the figure and background with equal importance. In her recent body of work, she returns to the subject of Native American portraits, mixing indigenous motifs with her signature style and featuring depictions of the human form as solid, grounded, and in tune with its environment and spirit.

“When I was 12 I read the book “My Friend Flicka” and discovered this place called Montana,” says Martin. “If you are not familiar with this book – It’s about a girl who grows up on a ranch in Montana, and she has a pony name Flicka. As she comes of age she goes through the trials and tribulations of raising a pony. The Horse part was great, but the description of the land was so spell binding that I went bananas for Montana and somehow convinced my parents for our summer holiday to drive there from Los Angeles. And we did. We camped all along the way and when we got to the Codon River Valley just north of Missoula and before White Fish, my parents drank the Kool-Aid, – They were hooked.” “They ended up finding and buying a cabin in the woods on the Condon River. And I spent the rest of my summers running wild, thinking I was Tom Sawyer and Robinson Cruso. It was the Land of The Black Feet Nation and my Love, Respect and Admiration for the Wild West has continued to be a place of inspiration.”

JoAnne Artman Gallery, Presents: “THE WILD BUNCH” FEATURING BILLY SCHENCK, GREG MILLER + AMERICA MARTIN

Artist Reception: Thursday, September 5th, 2019 from 6pm-8pm? Please RSVP: 949.510.5481 by August 29th, 2019

JoAnne Artman Gallery 511A West 22nd St. | New York, NY 10011 Contact: JoAnne Artman Telephone: 949-510-5481 | E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.joanneartmangallery.com

#popwestern thewildbunch upcomingshow joanneartmangallery nyc

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