#tears of the black tiger (2000)

[pasta-pardner]

Top 5 westerns that aren't spaghetti westerns

OHHHH THIS IS SUPER DIFFICULT... like picking a favorite child. ok here's a rough list

The Good, the Bad, the Weird |  좋은 놈, 나쁜 놈, 이상한 놈 (2008)

Unforgiven (1992)

The Harder They Fall (2021)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Tears of the Black Tiger | ฟ้าทะลายโจร (2000)

#i have so many honorable mentions it makes me sad #mccabe and mrs miller + shane im so sorry #every western is my favorite western sometimes ykwim #the good the bad and the weird (2008) #unforgiven (1992) #the harder they fall (2021) #butch cassidy and the sundance kid (1969) #tears of the black tiger (2000) #asks #marwood-and-i #westerns #pardner posts

[roseillith]

ฟ้าทะลายโจร // TEARS OF A BLACK TIGER (2000) dir. WISIT SASSANTIENG

#f #ฟ้าทะลายโจร #tears of a black tiger #wisit sassantieng

[maggiecheungs]

FAVOURITE THAI FILM(S) PER YEAR • 2000

TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER (2000) dir. Wisit Sasanatieng  

#tears of the black tiger #fa thalai chon #ฟ้าทะลายโจร #worldcinemaedit #favouritethaifilms #southeast asian cinema #thai movie #ellisgifs #gun tw #flashing tw #myfilmgallery #Stella Malucchi #Chartchai Ngamsan #Arawat Ruangvuth #Passin Reungwoot #love this film so much #queue

[zerogate]

My head was shaved by Master Song Nian at Singapore’s Mahabodhi Monastery on Easter day in 1997. I did sutra studies at Taiwan’s Buddhist Institute. After that, I wanted to experience different forms of Chan practice and I wanted to test myself. So in 1999 and 2000 I went on three-month intensive summer and winter retreats at Korean Son monasteries in Seoul and Gwangju.

Son, the Korean form of Chan or Zen, had a reputation for being very rigorous. That was what I wanted, and I was not disappointed.The daily schedule was brutal. We woke at 3:00 AM and finished at 11:00 PM. We had only fifteen minutes each for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Toilet breaks were five minutes, but the toilet was far from the meditation hall. We had no time, so we just went outside to shoot. For ninety days we did not take a shower. We had a basin of water that was filled from a bamboo pipe that ran down from the mountain and used a towel to scrub ourselves clean.

No break time, no time to relax, no nap after lunch. Sleeping after 11:00. Waking at 3:00. Most of us did not even have a room. We sat in the meditation hall on a folded-up cushions, which were also our beds. Each sitting was at least an hour, and we had to sit in full lotus. No movement was tolerated. If the monitors, who were senior monks, saw us move an inch, they’d hit us with the incense stick. In the morning, after waking, we had to do 108 prostrations in only ten minutes. Up and down, up and down. It looked like we were doing jumping jacks.

The Korean terminology for this kind of intensive retreat is Kyol Che, which means “very tight dharma.” You have to be very fast, very precise, always in the moment. There is no time to think, wander off, and daydream. If you fall behind, you get hit. There is nothing symbolic about these blows. Thwack! You dare not whimper or cringe. They punch and kick you, and you have to bow and gently say, “thank you.” In Korean. And then there is pain, so much pain.

Tears roll down from your eyes the moment you move your legs as you come out of the full lotus. There is so much pain that you don’t know where the pain is coming from. You try to massage your muscles, but it’s not the muscles. The pain goes into the bone. At the end of the day you are so tired you cannot move or stand up. You crawl to bed.

And then the food. Kimchi all the time, kimchi and white rice. The kimchi smelled like rotten eggs. It was repulsive, almost unbearable. It made me gag, and I had to force down every bite. It was the only food, so you either ate it or starved! A piece of tofu was an extravagance. We ate tofu three or four times in ninety days. The rest of the time it was kimchi with black beans and a few sprouts.

For seven days and nights in the middle of the retreat we were subjected to what is called in Chinese yong men jin jing, which translates as “great courageous diligence.” This was an even more intensive practice than your run-of-the-mill Kyol Che. For seven days and nights we were not allowed to lie down. Twenty-four hours of continuous sitting practice for seven straight days. We learned how to sleep while sitting, but when you were caught dozing, you were hit. You learned to sleep without moving.

[...]

Before going into the Son retreat they warned us that it was called the demon training camp. We called it the cave of the tiger. Once you enter the cave of the tiger you can only come out in two ways. One, you die. If it’s summer, they will carry your corpse out of the Son Bang, the Chan Hall. But if you die in the winter, they put you under the table. It is so cold in the unheated hall that your body will not rot. Then they take you out for burial after the retreat is over.

The second way to leave Son Bang is to be verified that you are enlightened. Then you can walk away before the retreat ends. Those are the two acceptable ways to leave the retreat. But sometimes, in the ninety days, the person next to you would disappear. They had escaped. In the middle of night, they had climbed over the monastery’s wall and run away. When that happened their name was published and the whole of Korea knew they had run. For the next three years, that person was blacklisted—banned from the Chan Hall and Chan monasteries in all of Korea.

-- Guo Jun, Essential Chan Buddhism

#quotes

[a-man-for-hire-and-his-archives]

Scrublands: Award-winning ‘ripping page-turner’ becomes the latest crime thriller shot in Victoria

The adaptation of the novel Scrublands into a crime series is the second Stan original after Bali 2002. Photo: Stan

Ever since award-winning Australian crime writer Chris Hammer published his 2018 thriller Scrublands, television networks and production studios worked furiously to get their hands on the rights to bring the story to life.

Canberra-based Hammer, a former political journalist with just two non-fiction books under his belt, couldn’t believe it when he landed a book deal with Allen & Unwin to publish his debut fiction novel.

Shortly after, he sold the international and TV rights.

“I was laughing and crying, it was just unbelievable,” he told The Guardian at the time.

Fast forward to 2023, and Scrublands – an Easy Tiger production co-commissioned by Australian streamer Stan and the Nine Network, in association with VicScreen – is now filming across Victoria.

Easy Tiger founder Ian Collie and its chief executive Rob Gibson issued a joint statement, saying: “From the moment we opened Chris Hammer’s ripping page-turner, we knew Scrublands was destined to be a must-watch crime series”.

“[It] will be an unmissable TV event for rusted-on Chris Hammer fans and everyone else alike.”

Hammer, too, can’t wait to see it, telling his 2000 Instagram followers he’s thrilled with the cast, the director and just about anyone involved in the series.

“Can’t wait,” he wrote on Tuesday.

What’s it about?

Scrublands was an instant bestseller in 2018, topping the Australian fiction charts and shortlisted for Best Debut Fiction at the Indie Book Awards.

It was also shortlisted for Best General Fiction at the Australian Book Industry Awards and won the UK Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey Debut Dagger Award.

The story is set against the backdrop of the New South Wales Riverina, in an isolated country town called Riversend, where a charismatic and dedicated young priest (Jay Ryan) calmly opens fire on his congregation, killing five parishioners.

One year later, Hammer’s main character, investigative journalist Martin Scarsden (Luke Arnold) arrives in town to write what should be a simple feature story on the anniversary of the tragedy.

“But when Martin’s instincts kick in and he digs beneath the surface, the previously accepted narrative begins to fall apart and he finds himself in a life-and-death race to uncover the truth,” according to the Stan synopsis.

Turns out there’s a love triangle, fraud, organised crime and cover-ups, all sub-plots worthy of a series.

Prepare to be ‘dazzled’

Although we’re yet to discover how the novel has been adapted to the television series by scriptwriters Felicity Packard (lead writer, and she’s penned Ep 1), Kelsey Munro and Jock Serong, one book reviewer said it was a first-rate crime mystery who was “dazzled” by Hammer throughout the book.

“There is a sense of imminence to Scrublands, particularly in its recognition of drought and the plight of small towns,” Amanda Barrett wrote.

“This one sure bowled me over right from the hooking premise and opening sequence.

“Scrublands will floor you.

Although it’s a work of fiction, she said “there is so much truth to Hammer’s writing and his depiction of the events that take place in Riversend”.

“This is a fastidious novel that works to build a complete picture of what is happening across many country towns, across all states and territories in Australia.

“Riversend is simply a euphemism for so many rural locales in Australia that are grappling with the impact of drought, a decline in services and a rise in crime.”

As a result, she said, the book came across as an authentic tale, tapping into issues that strike at the heart of rural townships.

Hard work starts for the cast at the table readings. Photo: Stan

Table readings of the adaptation with the lead cast of Arnold (Black Sails, Never Tear Us Apart: The Untold Story of INXS), Bella Heathcote (C*A*U*G*H*T, Relic, Pieces of Her) and Jay Ryan (It: Chapter Two, Top of the Lake) have been completed as cast hit the road to various locations across the state.

Nine’s director of television Michael Healy says “joining forces with the teams at Stan and Easy Tiger on Scrublands has realised an ambition we have had since Chris Hammer’s novel was published in 2018″.

He says they’re confident it will turn into must-watch television, suitable for a global audience.

VicScreen boss Caroline Pitcher reveals more than 500 Victorians will be employed throughout the series, “adding to the state’s pipeline of local productions”.

Scrublands is the second co-commissioned production between Nine and Stan following Bali 2002.

Source: The New Daily

#luke arnold #luke spam #bella heathcote #jay ryan #scrublands on stan #scrublands #stan australia #Instagram

[tmbeethatsme]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Ty Beanie Buddies Collection Blizzard striped tiger plush black white 17" 2000.

[imagekeepr]

Songs for Halloween Parties

Halloween parties offer the most wide open subject possibilities of any type of celebration. Halloween is the one day of the year that lets you be any living thing or dead thing, any occupation, any human or non-human and any personality type. You can be a cartoon character if you like. Since Halloween can go hundreds of different directions, the playlist will likely be a diverse list of novelty songs. The Monster Mash by Bobby Boris Pickett Rock Lobster by The B-52's Creep by Radiohead Everyday Is Halloween by Ministry Space Oddity by David Bowie Dead Man's Party by Oingo Boingo It's the End of the World As We Know it (and I Feel Fine) by R.E.M. Planet Claire by The B-52's Mad World - Tears For Fears Hell by Squirrel Nut Zippers Wicked Game by Chris Isaak Phantom of the Opera Soundtrack by Andrew Lloyd Weber Bela Lugosi's Dead by Bauhaus Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon Black Celebration by Depeche Mode Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles Walking On The Moon by The Police The Fly by U2 Lola by The Kinks Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress by The Hollies I Wanna Be a Cowboy by Boy Meets Girl 2000 Light Years From Home by The Rolling Stones The Munsters TV Theme Not Afraid by Eminem Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down Enter Sandman by Metallica Superstition by Stevie Wonder People Are Strange by The Doors Evil Ways by Santana 1999 by Prince Revolution 9 by The Beatles Twilight Zone TV Theme Hotel California by The Eagles Season of the Witch by Donovan Psycho Killer by Talking Heads The Devil Went Down to Georgia by Charlie Daniels Band Highway to Hell by AC/DC Devil Inside by INXS Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran Thriller by Michael Jackson Super Freak by Rick James Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr. Le Freak by Chic Rapper's Delight by Sugar Hill Gang Girlfriend in a Coma by The Smiths Dark Lady by Cher Scary Monsters by David Bowie Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival Devil Woman by Cliff Richard Riders On The Storm by The Doors Runnin' With the Devil by Van Halen Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones Crocodile Rock by Elton John Godzilla by Blue Oyster Cult Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People Frankenstein by Edgar Winter Group Nightmare on My Street by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince Time Warp from Rocky Horror Soundtrack Rapture by Blondie She Said She Said by The Beatles Wanted Dead or Alive by Jon Bon Jovi Out of Limits by The Marketts Somebody’s Watching Me by Rockwell Bad Girls by Donna Summer Black Magic Woman by Santana Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N' Roses Welcome to My Nightmare by Alice Cooper Boris the Spider by The Who Jungle Boogie by Kool & The Gang Roxanne by The Police Back in Black by AC/DC Addams Family TV Theme The Blob by The Five Blobs Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson Take the Money and Run by Steve Miller Band Mama Told Me Not to Come by Three Dog Night Witchy Woman by The Eagles Speed Racer TV Theme Let's Go Crazy by Prince King Tut by Steve Martin Another One Bites the Dust by Queen Erotic City by Prince White Wedding by Billy Idol Hells Bells by AC/DC Fly Like an Eagle by Steve Miller Band Bad Bad Leroy Brown by Jim Croce Don't Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult Tarzan Boy by Baltimore Rocket Man by Elton John Live and Let Die by Paul McCartney & Wings Genie in a Bottle by Christina Aguilera Copacabana by Barry Manilow Black Cat by Janet Jackson You Dropped a Bomb on Me by Gap Band Zoo Station by U2 My City Was Gone by The Pretenders Eye of the Tiger by Survivor 99 Red Balloons by Nena Spirits in the Material World by The Police Monster by Fred Schneider Union of the Snake by Duran Duran They're Coming To Take Me Away Ha Ha by Napoleon XIV Rebel Rebel by David Bowie State of Shock by The Jacksons Walk Like an Egyptian by The Bangles Freakazoid by Midnight Star Low Rider by War Church of the Poison Mind by Culture Club Rebel Yell by Billy Idol Valley Girl by Frank Zappa E.T. by Katy Perry and Kanye West We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions by Queen All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix Strange Magic by Electric Light Orchestra Burning Down the House by Talking Heads Der Komissar by After The Fire Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive by Men at Work Taxman by The Beatles Monsters and Angels by Voice of the Beehive Clint Eastwood by Gorillaz Spiders and Snakes by Jim Stafford Secret Agent Man by Johnny Rivers 2001: A Space Odyssey (Also Sprach Zarathustra) by Deodato Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band by Meco Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead by XTC You Are a Tourist by Death Cab for Cutie The Joker by Steve Miller Band Run Through the Jungle by Creedence Clearwater Revival Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes Head Like a Hole by Nine Inch Nails Jerry Was a Race Car Driver by Primus Clap For the Wolfman by The Guess Who Fear of the Unknown by Siouxsie & The Banshees I Ran by A Flock of Seagulls Centerfold by J. Geils Band Black Velvet by Alannah Myles Tears of a Clown by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, also The English Beat You Be Illin' by Run DMC Criminal by Fiona Apple Shout At The Devil by Motley Crue Weird Science by Oingo Boingo Swing The Mood by Jive Bunny and the Mix Masters Wild Thing by Tone Loc Whip It by Devo Planet Claire by The B-52's Legend of Wooley Swamp by Charlie Daniels Band Purple People Eater by Sheb Wooley The Freaks Come Out at Night by Houdini The Road To Hell by Chris Rea Billionaire by Travie McCoy featuring Bruno Mars Devil With a Blue Dress by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels Rock Me Amadeus by Falco Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield Space Cowboy by Steve Miller Band Gypsy by Fleetwood Mac I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash, also Social Distortion Walk the Dinosaur by Was (Not Was) Funky Cold Medina by Tone Loc The Night Chicago Died by Paper Lace N.W.O. by Ministry Paranomia by Art of Noise Birdhouse in Your Soul by They Might Be Giants If I Only Had a Brain by Lee Marvin from The Wizard of Oz Pink Panther Theme by Henry Mancini Orchestra Smuggler's Blues by Glenn Frey She Blinded Me With Science by Thomas Dolby Runnin' Down a Dream by Tom Petty Axel F by Crazy Frog (You've Got to) Fight For Your Right (To Party) by Beastie Boys In The Year 2525 by Zager and Evans Major Tom by Peter Schilling Man On The Moon by R.E.M. Happy Days Theme by Pratt & McClain Send Me an Angel by Real Life Convoy by C.W. McCall Particle Man by They Might Be Giants Pinball Wizard by The Who Fire by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown It's a Mistake by Men At Work Synchronicity II by The Police Mr. Roboto by Styx Wipeout by Surfaris Evil Woman by Electric Light Orchestra King of Pain by The Police Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody by David Lee Roth Twilight Zone by Golden Earring Rockin' Robin by Michael Jackson Spooky by Classics IV Jungle Love by The Time A View To a Kill by Duran Duran Rain on the Scarecrow by John Mellencamp Love Potion #9 by The Searchers Cult of Personality by Living Colour The Candy Man by Sammy Davis Jr. Authority Song by John Mellencamp Rainbow Connection by Kermit the Frog The Bird by The Time Lil' Red Riding Hood by Sam the Sham & The Pharoahs Canary in a Coalmine by The Police Octopus's Garden by The Beatles Maxwell's Silver Hammer by The Beatles Puttin' On The Ritz by Taco Livin' La Vida Loca by Ricky Martin The Streak by Ray Stevens Bat Dance by Prince Theme from Greatest American Hero by Joey Scarbury Fame by David Bowie Eye In The Sky by Alan Parsons Project Devil in Disguise by Elvis Presley Mommy's Little Monster by Social Distortion Deadman's Curve by Jan & Dean Creature from the Black Lagoon by Dave Edmunds Zombie by The Cranberries The Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen Haunted House by Jumpin’ Gene Simmons It's Halloween by The Shaggs Dragula by Rob Zombie Witch Queen of New Orleans by Redbone I Was A Teenage Werewolf by The Cramps Eye of the Zombie by John Fogerty Halloween by Misfits Pet Sematary by The Ramones Horror Movie by Skyhooks The Raven by Alan Parsons Project Bloodletting by Concrete Blonde Feed My Frankenstein by Alice Cooper Don't Be Afraid of the Dark by Robert Cray Hypnotized by Fleetwood Mac The Scientist by Coldplay Run For Your Life by The Beatles Dig My Grave by They Might Be Giants Waltz in Black by The Stranglers I Put a Spell on You by Screamin Jay Hawkins, Creedence Clearwater Revival Ghost Riders in the Sky by The Outlaws, Johnny Cash Ghost of Tom Joad by Rage Against the Machine, Bruce Springsteen Dead Souls by Joy Division, Nine Inch Nails Swamp Witch by Jim Stafford I'm a Goner by Matt and Kim w/ Soulja Boy & Andrew W.K. Mekong Delta - Night on a Bare Mountain Nightmare by Brainbug In the Hall of the Mountain King by Sounds Incorporated One Piece at a Time by Johnny Cash Tequila by The Champs I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night by The Electric Prunes Nasty by Janet Jackson No More Mr. Nice Guy by Alice Cooper Backstabbers by The O'Jays Pets by Porno For Pyros Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins Ghost of a Texas Ladies' Man by Concrete Blonde Dr. Tarr & Professor Feather by Alan Parsons Project To Live and Die in LA by Wang Chung Pictures of Matchstick Men by Status Quo, also Camper Van Beethoven Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves by Cher Land of Confusion by Genesis I Fought The Law by Bobby Fuller Four Naughty Girls by Samantha Fox Jimmy Olson's Blues by Spin Doctors Nightmares by Violent Femmes I Will Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie 42 by Coldplay Haunted House of the Century by Tangent Sunset The Warrior by Scandal Pacman Fever by Buckner & Garcia Planet Earth by Duran Duran Skeleton River by Tangent Sunset Junk Food Junkie by Larry Groce Everything Is Broken by Bob Dylan The Gambler by Kenny Rogers Shark Attack by Wailing Souls Season of the Witch by Joan Jett Superman's Song by Crash Test Dummies Brain Damage by Pink Floyd Paranoid by Black Sabbath He's a Vampire by Archie King Mad Scientist by The Zanies

#halloween #cool music #playlist #themed #music

[theartofmoviestills]

Tears of the Black Tiger | Wisit Sasanatieng | 2000

#Tears of the Black Tiger #Wisit Sasanatieng

[ley-med]

7 comfort movies

I've been double tagged by @docresa and @do-no-harm-hopefully thanks guys 😁

1) Pirates of the Caribbean (2003-2011)

The whole trilogy. (I love the later parts too, but the original 3 movies... Yeah.) Especially the first one. I love the sea, beautiful ships and always wanted to be a pirate, but there's more to it. This movie is perfect and no I don't take criticism. I probably know the whole script by heart by now... And decided that bordering on genius/crazy is my thing too (admittedly, I have about as much luck with it as our poor Captain)

2. Üvegtigris (Glass Tiger) (2001, 2006)

It's a Hungarian classic and peak Hungarian comedy. No matter how many times I rewatch it, I always discover new lines to laugh myself to tears to. This is the movie I got some of my life philosophy from, namely that statistics is bullshit and from my point of view, it's always 50-50% - either it will happen to me or won't. (Yes, in the movie they follow this line with "you are an idiot" but I find it geniusly accurate)

Honorary mention to my other favourite, Magyar Vándor/Hungarian Vagabond

3) Sherlock (2009)

I love the Sherlock Holmes lore and I LOVE Guy Ritchie movies. My favourite Sherlock-Watson duo and my favourite setting.

4) Snatch (2000)

Did I mention I love Guy Ritchie movies? I know it's bloody, but it's also bloody hilarious. There are several storylines, all connected on some level, and it would be difficult to choose a favourite. (No it's easy, the dog is my favourite.) And bonus points for the Hungarian version, because the translation and accent is just superb.

5) Thor Ragnarök (2017)

My favourite Marvel movie without a doubt. Okay to be honest, there are only a very few Marvel movie I actually like (This, Spider Man, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, and Captain Marvel. That's it.) but this really outshines them all. Pretty much the only one where we get an in-depth portrayal of both Thor and Loki. We get not only one but two amazing villains. We get Valkyrie.

Can I get more with Taika Waititi and with this exact cast? Please?

6) Men In Black (1997)

This is a perfect comfort movie. No need to elaborate.

7) Bud Spencer and Terence Hill movies

I know I know, it's not one movie... But it's hard to choose one and honestly, I don't even care which one I'm watching as long as I'm watching is this iconic duo. Old but golden.

I tag @lizziedoesvetpath @lazy2thebone @doktorwhat @thelittlenessie @fencingthings @doctor-jonathan-strange @dxmedstudent and sorry @medblr-of-a-sleepyhead I'm sure you need the triple-tag 😅

#tag game #comfort movies #movies #personal

[aion-rsa]

HBO Max New Releases: December 2020

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Time and time again during this year’s pandemic, movie studios have had to make the best of a bad situation. HBO Max’s list of new releases for December 2020 comes along with the most extreme example yet.

WarnerMedia undoubtedly had big plans for Wonder Woman 1984 when it scheduled it for a holiday release last year. After moving it to the summer, however, the conglomerate had to delay its theatrical release time and time again. Now HBO Max is the lucky winner of the saga, as it gets to premiere the long-awaited sequel on its servers on Dec. 25.

While Wonder Woman 1984 is definitely the headline this month, there are some other intriguing streaming options for HBO Max in December. The month plays host to a whole host of high-powered documentaries like Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults (Dec. 3), Alabama Snake (Dec. 9), and the Tiger Woods documentary Tiger (Dec. 15).

There isn’t much going on on the TV side of things. His Dark Materials is set to run its season 2 finale on Dec. 28. But at that point, everyone will likely be on their fourth Wonder Woman rewatch.

Here is the full list of everything coming to and leaving HBO Max in December 2020.

HBO Max New Releases – December 2020

December 1

3 Godfathers, 1949

40 Days And 40 Nights, 2002 (HBO)

Absolute Power, 1997

Adam Ruins Everything, Seasons 2-3

The Adventures of Pinocchio, 1996

Amanpour: Sex & Love Around the World, 2018

Amistad, 1997 (HBO)

Annabelle: Creation, 2017 (HBO)

The Bay, 2012 (HBO)

The Beguiled, 2017 (HBO)

Beyond Reasonable Doubt, 2017

The Bishop’s Wife, 1947

The Blind Side, (HBO)

Blow-Up, 1966

The Book Of Henry, 2017 (HBO)

Bright Young Things, 2004 (HBO)

Bundle of Joy, 1956

The Carbonaro Effect, Seasons 2-5

Chasing Life with Sanjay Gupta, 2019

Cinderella Story: If The Shoe Fits, A, 2016

Code 46, 2004 (HBO)

Comedy Knockout, 2016

Contraband, 2012 (HBO)

Crimes of the Century, 2013

The Crow, 1994 (HBO)

The Crow: City Of Angels, 1996 (HBO)

The Crow: Wicked Prayer, 2005 (HBO)

Dead Wives Club, Season 1

Death Row Stories, Seasons 1-4

De Blanco La Patuda (aka White Is For Virgins), 2020 (HBO)

Deep Blue Sea, 1999

Demolition Man, 1993

Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, 2012 (HBO)

Fallen, 1998

Falling Skies, 2011

The Family Man, 2000 (HBO)

Father of the Bride, 1950

Fifty Shades Of Black, 2016 (HBO)

Final Destination, 2000

Final Destination 2, 2003

Final Destination 3, 2006

The Final Destination, 2009

Finding Jesus: Faith, Fact, Forgery, 2015

Freelancers, 2012 (HBO)

Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, 1995

Free Willy 3: The Rescue, 1997

Free Willy: Escape from Pirate’s Cove, 2010

The Girl With All The Gifts, 2016 (HBO)

Gladiator, 2000

Gun Crazy, 1950

Harry And The Hendersons, 1987 (HBO)

Hell in the Heartland, 2019

Hero, 2004 (HBO)

The History of Comedy, 2017

Holiday Affair, 1949

Hot Fuzz, 2007 (HBO)

How It Really Happened, Seasons 1-4

The Human Stain, 2003 (HBO)

The Hunt with John Walsh, 2014

Inside Evil with Chris Cuomo, 2018

It Happened on Fifth Avenue, 1947

Joe Versus the Volcano, 1990

Juice, 1992

Just My Luck, 2006 (HBO)

Kung Fu Panda 2, 2011

Laff Mobb’s Laff Tracks, 2018

The Last Samurai, 2003

La Unidad, 2020

Logan’s Run, 1976

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001

The Man Who Came to Dinner, 1942

Mars Attacks!, 1996

Meet Me in St. Louis, 1944

Michael Clayton, 2007

Misery, 1990 (HBO)

The Misery Index, 2013

My Dream is Yours, 1949

Nancy Drew, 2007

No Blade of Grass, 1970

Omega Man, The, 1971

On Moonlight Bay, 1951

Outbreak, 1995

Paid Off with Michael Torpey, 2018

Phantom Thread, 2017 (HBO)

Period of Adjustment, 1962

Pope: The Most Powerful Man In History, 2018

Project X, 2012 (Extended Version) (HBO)

Rachel Dratch’s Late Night Snack, 2016

The Redemption Project, 2019

Risky Business, 1983

Robots, 2005 (HBO)

Rock Of Ages, 2012 (Extended Version)  (HBO)

Romance on the High Seas, 1948

Room for One More, 1952

Sanctum, 2011 (HBO)

The Sentinel, 2006 (HBO)

Sex and the City, 2008

Sex and the City 2, 2010

Shaun Of The Dead, 2004 (HBO)

The Shawshank Redemption, 1994

Shop Around the Corner, The, 1940

Snakes on a Plane, 2006

Snow White And The Huntsman, 2012 (Unrated Version) (HBO)

Something’s Killing Me, 2017

Southland, Seasons 1-5

Soylent Green, 1973

SPAWN, 1997

Stargirl, Season 1

Striptease, 1996

Susan Slept Here, 1954

Talk Show the Game Show, 2017

Tea for Two, 1950

Those Who Can’t, 2016

Three Godfathers, 1936

THX 1138, 1971

Timeline, 2003 (HBO)

Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale, 2007

Tom And Jerry: Santa’s Little Helpers, 2014

True Grit, 2010 (HBO)

Unfaithful, 2002 (HBO)

Unmasking a Killer, 2018

Very Scary People, Season 1

The Wedding Date, 2005 (HBO)

Westworld, 1973

What Bitch? (HBO)

Wrath of the Titans, 2012 (HBO)

Wrecked, 2019

Yogi Bear, 2010

Young Man with a Horn, 1949

December 2

Baby God, Documentary Premiere (HBO)

December 3

Full Bloom, Season Finale

Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults, HBO Max Documentary Premiere

Looney Tunes Cartoons, Bugs Bunny’s 24 Carrot Holiday Special Premiere

My Gift: A Christmas Special From Carrie Underwood, HBO Max Special Premiere

Stylish with Jenna Lyons, HBO Max Original Series Premiere

December 4

Beyond the Spotlight, Season 1

Bright Now: Alien Worlds, 2020

Engineering the Future, 2020

La Leyenda Negra (HBO)

Jujutsu Kaisen (Crunchyroll Collection)

December 5

The Photograph, 2020 (HBO)

December 6

Euphoria, “Trouble Don’t Last Always,” Special Episode Premiere (HBO)

Murder on Middle Beach, Docuseries Finale (HBO)

December 7

Axios, Season Finale (HBO)

December 8

40 Years a Prisoner, Documentary Premiere (HBO)

La Jauria (The Pack), Season 1

One Night in Bangkok, 2020

December 9

Alabama Snake, Documentary Premiere (HBO)

The Trial of Christine Keeler

December 10

4 Blocks, Seasons 1-3

Esme & Roy, HBO Max Holiday Special Episode

Haute Dog, HBO Max Holiday Special Episode

Let Them All Talk, HBO Max Original Film Premiere

House of Ho, HBO Max Original Series Premiere

Summer Camp Island, Season 3 Premiere

Veneno, Season Finale

Valley of Tears, Season Finale

December 11

Adult Material

Midnight Family, 2020 (HBO)

One Way Or Another, Season Finale (HBO)

December 12

The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, Documentary Premiere (HBO)

December 13

Tiger, Docuseries Premiere (HBO)

December 15

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (HBO)

December 16

The Art of Political Murder, Documentary Premiere (HBO)

December 17

CNN Heroes, An All-Star Tribute

The Flight Attendant, HBO Max Limited Series Premiere

Homeschool Musical Class of 2020, HBO Max Special Premiere

Love Monster, Season 1-2

Sesame Street: Holiday at Hooper’s

December 18

Diego Torres Sinfonico, Season 1 (HBO)

Hasta Que La Boda Nos Separe (aka The Wedding Unplanner), 2020 (HBO)

December 19

Wendy, 2020 (HBO)

December 20

I Used to Go Here, 2020 (HBO)

December 21

Industry, Season Finale (HBO)

December 23

Squish, Season 1

December 25

The West Wing, Season 1-7

Wonder Woman 1984

December 26

Independence Day (Extended Version), 1996 (HBO)

Road Trip, Season 1

December 28

His Dark Materials, Season 2 Finale (HBO)

December 29

Los Dias De La Ballena (AKA The Days of the Whale) (HBO)

December 31

The Champ, 1979

Conan Without Borders

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Leaving HBO Max – December 2020

December 10

Lights Out, 2016 (HBO)

December 15

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, 2019 (HBO)

December 26

American Animals, 2018 (HBO)

December 27

Arizona, 2018 (HBO)

December 31

An American in Paris, 1951

Analyze This, 1999

Austin Powers In Goldmember, 2002

Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery, 1997

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, 1999

Batman & Robin, 1997

Batman Forever, 1995

Batman v Superman: Ultimate Edition, 2016

Bonnie and Clyde, 1967

Boogie Nights, 1997

Bringing Up Baby, 1938

Clash Of The Titans, 2010

Constantine, 2005

Demolition Man, 1993

Dirty Harry, 1971

Doctor Zhivago, 1965

Empire of the Sun, 1987

Friday the 13th, 2009

Free Willy, 1993

Giant, 1956

Gladiator, 2000

The Hey Arnold! The Movie, 2002

The Hobbit, 1977

Jonah Hex, 2010

La La Land, 2016 (HBO)

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life, 2003

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, 2001

The Lego Ninjago Movie, 2014

Lucy In The Sky, 2019 (HBO)

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, 2012 (HBO)

Monsters vs. Aliens, 2009

Rugrats Go Wild, 2003

The post HBO Max New Releases: December 2020 appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3qfTVka

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[roseillith]

ฟ้าทะลายโจร // TEARS OF A BLACK TIGER (2000) dir. WISIT SASSANTIENG

#f #ฟ้าทะลายโจร #tears of a black tiger #wisit sassantieng

[maggiecheungs]

Passin Reungwoot as Captain Kumjorn in Tears of the Black Tiger (2000) dir. Wisit Sasanatieng

#Passin Reungwoot #tears of the black tiger #Wisit Sasanatieng #thai movie #gun tw #thai actors #Fa Thalai Chon #ฟ้าทะลายโจร #screencaps #THAT IS PRAN’S DAD #was watching this film thinking ‘hmmm he looks familiar’ IT’S BECAUSE HE PLAYS PRAN’S FATHER IN BAD BUDDY #anyway i love this film so so much <3 it's so much fun #queue

[dweemeister]

A list of all films featured in 2020′s 31 Days of Oscar

This is the exhaustive list of all 327 short- and feature-length films featured during this year’s 31 Days of Oscar marathon (down from 388 in 2019, up from 296 in 2018). Every single film that was featured since January 29 was nominated for an Academy Award or won an Honorary Oscar. We started the marathon a few days early this year because of the earlier-than-usual timing of this year’s ceremony (which placed it at Day 12 of this year’s marathon). Thank goodness we’ll go back to usual in 2021 and 2022, where the former’s ceremony will be placed on Day 28 if I, by tradition, start the marathon on February 1, 2021.

Best Picture winners and the one (and only) winner for Unique and Artistic Production are in bold - okay the latter was not featured for this year’s marathon (but perhaps next time!). Asterisked (*) films are films I haven’t seen in their entirety as of the publishing of this post.

7th Heaven (1927)*

The Circus (1928)

The Divine Lady (1929)*

Disraeli (1929)*

The Love Parade (1929)*

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Anna Christie (1930)*

The Divorcee (1930)*

The Green Goddess (1930)*

Raffles (1930)*

Five Star Final (1931)*

Little Caesar (1931)

The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931)

Grand Hotel (1932)

One Hour with You (1932)*

Shanghai Express (1932)

Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)

Little Women (1933)*

The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934)*

The Gay Divorcee (1934)

It Happened One Night (1934)

The Thin Man (1934)

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)*

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

Naughty Marietta (1935)

Top Hat (1935)

Broadway Melody of 1936 (1936)*

Fury (1936)*

The Garden of Allah (1936)

The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

Swing Time (1936)

Camille (1937)*

Grand Illusion (1937, France)

The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)

Three Smart Girls (1937)*

Wee Willie Winkie (1937)*

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

Dark Victory (1939)

Gone with the Wind (1939)

Gunga Din (1939)

Ninotchka (1939)

Wuthering Heights (1939)*

All This, and Heaven Too (1940)

The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Pinocchio (1940)

Rebecca (1940)

A Wild Hare (1940 short)

Blossoms in the Dust (1941)*

The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)*

Hold Back the Dawn (1941)*

Lady Be Good (1941)*

Meet John Doe (1941)

Sergeant York (1941)

Casablanca (1942)

Der Fuehrer’s Face (1942 short)

In Which We Serve (1942)*

Now, Voyager (1942)

Road to Morocco (1942)

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

Cabin in the Sky (1943)

Destination Tokyo (1943)*

A Guy Named Joe (1943)*

This Land is Mine (1943)*

Marie Curie (1943)*

The North Star (1943)*

The Song of Bernadette (1943)

The Yankee Doodle Mouse (1943 short)

Double Indemnity (1944)

Gaslight (1944)

Going My Way (1944)

It Happened Tomorrow (1944)*

Laura (1944)

National Velvet (1944)

The Uninvited (1944)*

Brief Encounter (1945)

Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)*

Leave Her to Heaven (1945)*

Pride of the Marines (1945)*

The Southerner (1945)

They Were Expendable (1945)*

Vacation from Marriages (1945)*

Great Expectations (1946)*

The Green Years (1946)*

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)*

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)*

Black Narcissus (1947)

Crossfire (1947)

Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)

Green Dolphin Street (1947)*

T-Men (1947)*

The Red Shoes (1948)

Romance on the High Seas (1948)*

It’s a Great Feeling (1949)*

A Letter to Three Wives (1949)*

Little Women (1949)*

Mighty Joe Young (1949)*

Neptune’s Daughter (1949)*

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

The Third Man (1949)

All About Eve (1950)

La Ronde (1950, France)*

Ace in the Hole (1951)

An American in Paris (1951)

Quo Vadis (1951)

Royal Wedding (1951)

When Worlds Collide (1951)*

The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

Le Plaisir (1952, France)*

Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

The Band Wagon (1953)

From Here to Eternity (1953)

Lili (1953)

Mogambo (1953)*

The Story of Three Loves (1953)*

La Strada (1954, Italy)

On the Waterfront (1954)

Seven Samurai (1954, Japan)

Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)

No Hunting (1955 short)*

Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

The Burmese Harp (1956, Japan)

Friendly Persuasion (1956)

Giant (1956)

Lust for Life (1956)

Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)*

Written on the Wind (1956)*

Funny Face (1957)

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)

Tammy and the Bachelor (1957)*

12 Angry Men (1957)

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

Gigi (1958)

Separate Tables (1958)*

Ben-Hur (1959)

North by Northwest (1959)

The Young Philadelphians (1959)*

The Alamo (1960)

The Entertainer (1960)*

Pepe (1960)*

Spartacus (1960)

Two Women (1960, Italy)*

Beep Prepared (1961 short)

Days of Wine and Roses (1962)

How the West Was Won (1962)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)

The Caretakers (1963)*

Cheyenne Autumn (1964)

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

That Man from Rio (1964, France)*

My Fair Lady (1964)

Doctor Zhivago (1965)

The Shop on Main Street (1965, Czechoslovakia)*

The Sound of Music (1965)

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)

A Man for All Seasons (1966)

The Professionals (1966)

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Cool Hand Luke (1967)

Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)*

The Graduate (1967)

The Jungle Book (1967)

The Producers (1967)

The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967, France)*

Funny Girl (1968)

Ice Station Zebra (1968)*

The Lion in Winter (1968)*

Planet of the Apes (1968)

True Grit (1969)

Z (1969, Algeria)

Dodes'ka-den (1970, Japan)

Woodstock (1970)

Carnal Knowledge (1971)*

The Emigrants (1971, Sweden)*

Cabaret (1972)

Cries and Whispers (1972, Sweden)

The Godfather (1972)

The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972)*

Travels with My Aunt (1972)*

Papillon (1973)

The Sting (1973)

The Four Musketeers (1974)*

The Godfather: Part II (1974)

Young Frankenstein (1974)

Dersu Uzala (1975, Soviet Union)

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Shampoo (1975)*

The Sunshine Boys (1975)*

Network (1976)

Taxi Driver (1976)

A Special Day (1977, Italy)*

Star Wars (1977)

Autumn Sonata (1978, Sweden)

Superman (1978)

The Swarm (1978)*

Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

Kagemusha (1980, Japan)

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (1980, Soviet Union)*

An American Werewolf in London (1981)*

Mephisto (1981, Hungary)*

Annie (1982)

An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)*

Victor/Victoria (1982)

Educating Rita (1983)*

Terms of Endearment (1983)

Dune (1984)*

A Passage to India (1984)*

Out of Africa (1985)

Ran (1985, Japan)

Witness (1985)*

Aliens (1986)

Luxo Jr. (1986 short)

Empire of the Sun (1987)

The Last Emperor (1987)

Bull Durham (1988)*

Mississippi Burning (1988)*

Dead Poets Society (1989)

Field of Dreams (1989)

Dances with Wolves (1990)

Ghost (1990)*

Boyz n the Hood (1991)*

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Aladdin (1992)

Unforgiven (1992)

The Firm (1993)*

The Wrong Trousers (1993 short)*

Forrest Gump (1994)

Il Postino (1994, Italy)

Little Women (1994)*

Casino (1995)*

Toy Story (1995)

Emma (1996)*

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Life Is Beautiful (1997, Italy)

The Old Lady and the Pigeons (1997 short, France)*

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

The Insider (1999)

Toy Story 2 (1999)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Taiwan)

Gladiator (2000)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

The Crime of Padre Amaro (2002, Mexico)*

Treasure Planet (2002)

The Fog of War (2003)*

The Triplets of Belleville (2003, France)*

Howl’s Moving Castle (2004, Japan)

Walk the Line (2005)*

Babel (2006)*

The Departed (2006)

Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

Atonement (2007)*

Ratatouille (2007)

The Hurt Locker (2008)

Kung Fu Panda (2008)

Waltz with Bashir (2008, Israel)

Precious (2009)*

The Secret of Kells (2009)

Inception (2010)

Toy Story 3 (2010)

A Separation (2011, Iran)

Amour (2012, Austria)

War Witch (2012, Canada)*

Omar (2013, Palestine)*

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013, Japan)

12 Years a Slave (2013)

Timbuktu (2014, Mauritania)

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Hidden Figures (2016)

Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

Dear Basketball (2017 short)

Negative Space (2017 short)

The Shape of Water (2017)

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Roma (2018, Mexico)

The nine nominees for Best Picture, including the winner, Parasite (2019, South Korea)

The fifteen nominees for the short film categories (2019)

Ad Astra (2019)

American Factory (2019)*

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)

For Sama (2019)*

Honeyland (2019, North Macedonia)*

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)

I Lost My Body (2019, France)

Judy (2019)

Klaus (2019)

Knives Out (2019)

The Lighthouse (2019)

Pain and Glory (2019, Spain)

Rocketman (2019)

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

Toy Story 4 (2019)

The Two Popes (2019)*

#31 Days of Oscar

[abdifarah]

Snake Charmer

I grabbed my sneakers and ball from the backseat of my car. As I stepped onto the basketball court, the palm of a stranger’s hand suddenly hit my chest before my foot crossed the threshold of the out-of-bounds line, as if to protect me from stepping into molten lava. It was in fact hallowed ground he was preparing me to enter. “I don’t want to mess up your day, but Kobe Bryant died.” The words did not register. He must have meant to say Bill Russell or Magic Johnson or some other retired player, up in years or immunocompromised. My heart sank as the words did. Seemingly coordinated with the stranger’s preparatory address, my phone began to shriek. I shared basketball, above most else, with my closest friends, and for those of my friends “not into sports,” they knew I was and that I was probably the one person in their lives that could explain why their instagram and twitter timelines had been commandeered by the news of Bryant’s death. I sat on the court and texted friends I hadn’t spoken with in years. I mentally ran through all of the Lakers fans in my life, like someone tallying loved ones near the epicenter of an earthquake or tsunami. 

The surprises continued. My uncle Kenny called me. Kenny, like most of the men in my life, does not make calls. When I see Kenny during the holidays we do not hug or catch up with small talk. Me and Kenny speak solely in sports. “How are the Cowboys doing?” translates to how are you doing? On this occasion Kenny did not resort to code. “Are you okay?” Kenny asked with a tone of genuine concern in his voice. Strangely, I was not. Stepping out of my body momentarily, I watched myself frantically text friends and scour the internet for updates with large tears welling up in my eyes. Importantly, next to me, five or so other guys on the basketball court were doing the exact same thing. I was dumbfounded, and even a little amused that it was Kobe Bryant, of all people, that elicited this reaction from me. As a basketball fan I loved Kobe Bryant as a player, but I didn’t love him. I loved Kobe the way the world loves the Dalai Lama. Kobe was that inhuman child/god/king we watched grow up, do great exploits, and whose often trite proverbs of ostensible wisdom we warily entertained. His sudden and violent death brought into swift focus that, while famous for almost my entire life, I took Kobe for granted.

Kobe Bryant was the first of us to realize: the camera is always on. In the days and weeks following Kobe’s death I found myself pulling up old games on youtube and having them on in the background while I worked. I was surprised how many of the beats–a certain sequence of plays, a specific call by an announcer–I remembered, like I was watching reruns or listening to a throwback radio station. As much as The Fresh Prince or Martin or Seinfeld, Kobe Bryant was TV. Mostly to my frustration, as someone who ineffectually rooted against the Lakers, Kobe Bryant was always on my screen. Undoubtedly, a cloud hangs over everything related to Bryant now in light of his death, but rewatching games from the 2000 finals, in which Bryant’s Lakers bested the Reggie Miller/Jalen Rose led Pacers, I was reminded of how much uneasiness and sadness I felt for Kobe Bryant watching him even as a teenage admirer. After every exceptional defensive play, flashy pass, or difficult made shot, Bryant made sure the camera saw the fiery glint in his eyes, the licking of his lips, the exaggerated clinching of his jaw. 

Even more so than the NBA’s previous generation of celebrities–Bird, Magic, Jordan–Kobe Bryant seemed to be the first superstar to internalize that basketball was a performance: a movie backed by a John Tesh score, or more specifically, a loosely scripted 24-7 reality show complete with story arcs, heroes, villains, close-ups, and backstabbing confessions. Bryant perpetually signalled: to the camera, to the fans, to his haters, to his teammates, that he possessed the most passion, that he outworked everyone, and that he would stop at nothing to be the best. By all accounts this was all true. But we knew it less because it was true and more because Kobe wanted us to know. Even as a youngster I found his thirst obnoxious. 

Kobe was desperate, but he was also just ahead of the curve. Kobe Bryant proudly admitted to not having a social life, and almost a decade before Russell Westbrook said it, Bryant proclaimed that “Spalding was his only friend;” a both sad and sobering admission for any would-be competitors tasked with defeating Bryant on the court. Bryant’s performative work, that now permeates and characterizes most of millennial culture, predated social media. The author Touré in his book, I Would Die 4U, contends that despite being a baby boomer, Prince was the quintessential GenX celebrity, whose music perfectly tapped into that younger generation’s disaffected, countercultural ethos. Born in 1978, Bryant technically resides in GenX. The intense outpouring from all corners of the digital world over Bryant’s death stems from the fact that he was truly the first millennial celebrity. 

For Bryant, fame came before success. As the photogenic rookie for the Lakers, Bryant had cameos on sitcoms, graced the cover of every teen magazine, took Brandy to the prom, put out a rap album, and pitched every soda and sneaker Madison Avenue could throw at him. But like an inflated college application, Bryant’s extracurriculars read as contrivances. Bryant was named a starter in the 1998 All-Star game, an honor voted on by the fans, meanwhile he wasn’t even a starter on his own team. To suspicious observers, Bryant was an industry plant; the antidote to the fearful influx of hyper-black, hip hop culture embodied in players like Allen Iverson or Latrell Spreewell; a basketball and marketing robot with a pearly white smile, that spoke multiple languages, and would pick up where Michael Jordan left off; ushering the NBA to unprecedented commercial heights.

Despite his superficial charm, Kobe Bryant’s lack of genuine personality proved off-putting, almost creepy. Although possessing a similarly shimmering smile, everyone knew that the real Michael Jordan chomped on cigars, pounded tequila, gambled through the night, and did not actually hang out with Bugs Bunny while wearing Hanes tighty-whities. We acknowledged humanity, healthiness even, in this contradiction. For Bryant’s generation of sports superstars, the public and private arrived flattened. A sports prodigy, a la Tiger Woods, Bryant’s lone-gun, misanthropic persona emerged as a defense against the alienation he felt from his teammates and colleagues around the league, those that did not share his cloistered upbringing. Bryant’s longtime teammate and consummate foil, Shaquille O’Neal, had the nickname, Superman. Despite his titanic presence and supernatural physical gifts, O’Neal epitomized the terrestrial; always joking, dancing; embedded in pop culture; a true man of the people. The true Kryptonian was always Bryant.

As an ignorant seventeen year-old, my initial reaction in 2004 to the accusations of rape against Bryant was amused shock. “Kobe Bryant has sex?!” In 2004, I, like many, put Kobe on the shelf. Less out of a desire to proactively make any bold gestures on behalf of women, but more out of petty schadenfreude. As stated before, I respected the talent, but I was not really a Kobe fan. I always rooted for the underdog, and Bryant was anything but. To the contrary, everything about Bryant was an assault on the concept of the underdog, the diamond in the rough, the idea that anyone, despite their humble or downright degraded beginnings, could rise to excellence. Bryant was born and bread to be great. Sadly, I took grim pleasure in seeing the NBA’s posterboy–the prototype of black celebrity respectability–revealed as the actual embodiment of the entitled, toxically masculine, and sexually predatory stereotype of the black athlete. 

Bryant lost endorsements. Nike released the Huarache 2K4, an all-time great basketball shoe originally designed to be Bryant’s first signature release with the brand, as simply a stand-alone product. The Lakers shopped Bryant around for possible trades. Like Sampson sheared and stripped of his powers, Bryant’s hairline appeared to recede, he cut off his signature fro, and he began shaving his head closer and closer. Bryant changed his number from 8 to 24 as one now changes their Instagram or Twitter handle to represent a break from the past. Like a biblical character after a traumatic or transformative event, like Abram becoming Abraham, or Saul becoming Paul, Bryant adopted the moniker of the Black Mamba. He resigned to allow the sorting hat to place him in his rightful house of Slytherin, and embraced the duplicitous snake that many already viewed him to be. Somewhat strangely, the Black Mamba was the assassin code name of the main character in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, who in the film is left for dead, and out for revenge. Did Bryant see himself as this woman wronged, or as the titular character, Bill, contently awaiting his deserved day of judgement. Knowing Bryant, he probably saw himself as both.    

In the myth of Hercules (not the Disney version) the famous god-man kills his wife and kids in a fit of hysteria inflicted by a vengeful Hera. If we imagine that the mythical figures of today were really just the celebrities and aristocrats of past millennia who had control over the pen of history and whose carnal tales swelled into sacred gospel; the fits of rage and mania brought on by the devil or hades or a poison arrow, were really the Chappaquiddicks, Vegas hotel rooms, and dog fighting compounds of their time; times when our heroes unequivocally and inexcusably committed evil. If Hercules was in fact a real man of some importance to his time–the son of a dignitary–that unfathomably killed his wife and kids, it follows that instead of being sentenced to death or some other fate reserved for the criminal commoner, that he would be given some lesser sentence and a chance–albeit slim–of redemption. Hercules is banished by the gods to serve an insignificant king and accomplish the arduous good works assigned to him as a means of atonement; the great works–slaying the nine-headed hydra, retrieving cerberus –that ultimately generate his immortal legend.  

Bryant’s post rape case/post Shaquille O’Neal years with the Lakers mirror this herculean restitution. Despite years on center stage, the Lakers, like Bryant, were similarly in their nadir, and would spend the middle of the aughts in basketball purgatory. Bryant was no longer primetime television. What happens to a pop-star when no one is watching? Surprisingly, Kobe Bryant kept performing, and at higher heights. Bryant was doing his best work while no one was watching. I remember walking through the door of my college dorm on a non-descript spring day. My roommate, Bryun, yelled at me with no context, “8 1  P O I N T S !” Kobe Bryant’s 81 point game may lay claim as the first social media sports moment. Less because no other great sports moments had occurred between 2004, when facebook emerged, and his scoring explosion in 2006, but because very few people watched that midseason contest between two mediocre teams live. It arrived to everyone, like myself, after the fact.

During a recent lecture, artist Dave McKenzie, when answering a very banal question during a post lecture q&a, about his long term goals as an artist, answered soberingly, “I’m just trying to get through this life and do the least amount of harm.” While we all hope to navigate this life without hurting others, most, if not all of us, will in some way. While we can and must continue to  interrogate why powerful (or at least useful to the actual powerful) men like Kobe Bryant seemingly evade the full reckoning of their actions, we must acknowledge that Bryant became something of a patron saint to those who for whatever reason found themselves on the wrong side of right. Maybe they were the underprivileged black and brown boys and girls in over-policed neighborhoods of LA where Bryant played for 20 years. Perhaps they were not pure victims but made some questionable choices and found themselves caught in the system. Or maybe it was the newly divorced father attempting to win back the respect of his kids after breaking apart his family due to his own indiscretions. Kobe Bryant in this second half of his career, culminating in back to back championships, provided a picture of how one climbs back from the depths of hell, even if they were the one that put themself there. This explains the irrationality of Kobe fans, who defended him in everything, and straight-faced spoke his name in the same breath as Michael Jordan, despite honestly being in a class below. For them, Kobe was bigger than basketball, and while many fans share a vicarious relationship with their sports heroes or teams, Bryant’s winning was more profoundly linked to his fans’ sense of self-worth.

Precocity embodied, Bryant arrived in the NBA a generation too soon. As the son of a former player, singularly focused on professionalizing at a young age, even foregoing college at a time when that was still a rarity, Bryant was an alien compared to most players of his generation. The trajectory of players today more resembles Bryant’s. Gone are the days of Dennis Rodman or Scottie Pippen or Steve Nash picking up basketball late, or being undiscovered and surreptitiously landing on a small college team, eventually catching the eye of the larger basketball world. Now, professional basketball starts disturbingly early. Prospects like Zion Williamson have millions of Instagram followers in high school. Second generation pros are commonplace – Steph, Klay, Kyrie, Devin Booker, Andrew Wiggins, Domantas Sabonis, Austin Rivers, Tim Hardaway Jr., Glenn Robinson III, and so on. Bryant was the cautionary tale, a sage mentor, and ultimately an icon to the generation of players succeeding Bryant, who like him, entered the spotlight and scrutiny of an increasingly voracious sports machine as children. Thanks in part to witnessing the triumphs and travails of Bryant, today’s young superstars arrive to the league encoded with the understanding that the fans, the media, the sports industry writ large, wait with baited breath for them to fuck up off the court as much as they do a spectacular play in the game. To these various stakeholders, it’s all good entertainment.

[A bit of a tangent] As the coronavirus began to ravage New Orleans, in particular the homeless and already vulnerable of the city, I had a group of friends, more acquaintances, who took it upon themselves to collect donations, buy groceries, prepare and ultimately hand out meals to the large number of homeless people mostly living under the I-10 overpass downtown. As a naturally cynical person, I immediately questioned the motivations. All of those same homeless people were living under the overpass before coronavirus, where was this energy then? One friend involved with this effort confided that she was incredibly anxiety stricken in all of this, and that this “project” was taking her mind off things. I chafed at the phrasing of feeding the homeless as a “project.” Additionally, daily I would scroll through the Instagram feeds of those helping and see pics of cute hipsters in masks and gloves and in grungy, rugged, but still impossibly chic outfits posing in Power Ranger formations in front of their rusted Ford Ranger filled with grocery bags to distribute. A masterclass in virtue signalling, the narcissism of it all polluted the entire endeavor for me. When I asked a trusted voice why this all rubbed me the wrong way, this person replied curtly, “What does it matter why or how they do it? They’re doing a good thing.” 

Kobe did not simply embrace this role of elder-statesman to the succeeding generation, he courted it, campaigned for this mantle as aggressively as he once sought championships. Lacking confidence in the intellect of the public to make their own conjectures of how Bryant resurrected his career, he rebranded himself a self-improvement life-couch, and proselytized his “Mamba Mentality,” even staging a parody Tony Robbins style conference as a Nike commercial. He collected young promising players to mentor like Leonardo DiCaprio collects young blonde models to date. Gossipy whispers swirled every offseason, “Kobes working with Kawhi.” or “Watch out for Jason Tatum this year; he spent the summer training with Kobe.” All of Kobe’s newfound openhandedness seemed spiked with self-aggrandizement. Opting to be the mentor of the next generation ensured that the success of future stars led back to him, and that he would be relevant and sought after long after his retirement. 

Whatever the subconscious or even conscious motivations behind Bryant’s mentorship, his movie Dear Basketball, or his show Detail–in which he broke down the games of basketball players across levels and leagues, treating women’s college basketball standout Sabrina Ionescu with the same care and reverence as NBA star James Harden–the result was education, service, stewardship, and love for the game of basketball. 

I started writing this soon after Bryant’s death but struggled to synthesize an ultimate point. In the end I am not sure I have one, just that Kobe Bryant, much to my surprise was a figure of enough complexity and enduring relevance to require re-interrogation. In hindsight, I needed to watch The Last Dance; the 10 part Michael Jordan re-coronation. In 2009 newly elected President Barack Obama, after stumbling over the oath of office during the freezing January inauguration, retook the oath the next day in a private ceremony just in case any of his political enemies, or the fomenting alt right with its myriad factions–from the conspiratorial to the downright racist–tried to invalidate his presidency. While trivial in comparison, Jordan, with The Last Dance is attempting desperately to reconfirm that he is the greatest basketball player of all-time, something only a few lunatics question. While the actual game footage is a wonder and leaves no doubt of Jordan’s basketball supremacy, the final tally of this hagiographic enterprise may result in a net loss for Jordan. Jordan, like a 19th century robber baron, seems to genuinely believe that his misanthropy, arrogance, condescension, usury, brutality, workaholism, and myopic focus on basketball, and consummate self-centeredness were all justified, required even, to win. To win what? Championships? With sports leagues and public officials debating when and if sports can and should come back amidst a virus with devastating life or death stakes, sports and success within them feel quite trivial and quaint at the moment. 

Having won at everything in life, sitting in his palatial mansion, sipping impossibly overpriced scotch, Jordan does not seem fulfilled. He is Ebenezer Scrooge. Unfortunately, it is not Christmas, and no ghosts of introspection are visiting Jordan, only a camera crew determined to retell the gospel of Jordan with a few non-canonical details sprinkled in for flavor. I am reminded of a line in Pat Conroy’s My Losing Season, an autobiographical account of his college basketball days at The Citadel. After a storied career, Conroy’s senior season is a disaster (hence the title). In it he says no one ever learned anything by winning. The inference is that, while winning is great, the actual growth occurs before, in the losing. Jordan in The Last Dance is the ghastly personification of “never losing. Like Bane before breaking Batman’s back, “Victory has defeated you.” With an unimpeachable resumé, Jordan was never required to question his actions or behaviors towards his teammates and competitors. Worshiped unwaveringly by all, Jordan never felt the need to give anything back to the game or to the communities that supported him. 

While never verbally conceding, Bryant seemed to embrace being the loser. Bryant realized early, perhaps as early as Colorado, that he was never going to be as beloved as Jordan. He began planning early for a life outside of basketball. He started a production company. He braved eye-rolls for the n-teenth time when he proclaimed that he was going to be a “storyteller.” Beyond a cliché adage, Bryant became a “family man,” and focused on this part of his life with the same ferocity that he once attacked the basket. Despite braving turmoil very publicly as a young couple, the bond between Bryant and his wife Vanesa appeared, at least on the outside, genuine. They welcomed their newest daughter, Capri, just 7 months before his death. While no less ambitious or busy in retirement, the Bryant who once wore his insecurity and desperation on his sweaty armband, strangely appeared content, happy. The guy who once proudly proclaimed “Spalding his only friend” relented to a verdant life with others.

While undoubtedly compounded by the tragic and sudden nature of his death, the truly astounding outpouring for Kobe–murals the world over, calf-length tattoos, millions of twitter handle re-namings–stands as an accomplishment, or better said, an acknowledgement that “better” athletes like Jordan or LeBron or Tiger or Brady will probably never receive. He wasn’t the best of us, and in many ways we loved him even more because of that. Before The Last Dance we got a preview of the more candid Michael Jordan during Kobe Bryant’s memorial, where Michael, who unbeknownst to us all was a confidant of Bryant’s, admitted that Kobe made him want to be a better father, a better person. In the end even the GOAT was a disciple of the Mamba. It’s only right that the first millennial superstar gained the biggest following.  

#Kobe #Mamba #thelastdance #lastdance #michael jordan #goat

[deathvsthemaiden]

🌻

Congrats! You have won access to a list of some of my most random thoughts in recent memory! Enjoy maybe (advance apologies for not linking any sources to any of the half remembered fun facts...don’t take them too seriously I never know what I’m taking abt 😬🤗)

•If you’re talking loud enough for people to hear you without trying or meaning or wanting to...it doesn’t count as eavesdropping!! @/my mother I am innocent! Learn some volume control 📢

•The older I get the more toxic and alienating I find the commonplace turn of phrase “I’d forget my head if it wasn’t attached!” Why is that painted as a bad thing...... 🥺💔❓I’d loveeee to forget my head. Just a few times. 👌🏽 As a treat.

•excluding the obvious, such as slurs, my least favorite words in the English language are landlocked (hideous reminder of my geographic state of affairs), and kismet. The latter is just so uglyyyyy the original language(s) it’s derived from make it sound so much better why can’t we just say kismat! I speak Urdu so I’m biased but like—

•I emphathize with fish an odd amount. I’ll eat them gladly and w gusto but I also find the level of suffering they’re allowed to feel staggering. It blindsides me. Blob fish used to (actually still do) freak me OUT!! Like my sister would scare me by showing me pictures of them w no warning. But apparently the reason they look the way they do is normally they live like 2000-4000 ft underwater and the decrease in water pressure as they’re drug up to the surface misshapes and deforms them and apparently this is very painful?? Even if it isn’t tho...the first time I read that. Immediate tears sprung into my eyes. And apparently some fish can choose to commit suicide? Like they just stop swimming and eating... god oh my god—!! They’re FISH!! Why are they so COMPLICATED!!! And I used to own a tank full of fish and usually fish don’t last long in our house! Rancid vibes you know? And my mom and I were so pleased these ones had lasted so long!! And then mysteriously they all just died too?? We did everything RIGHT! It was probably more than 2 years ago and we keep saying we’ll get more fish but I just don’t have the heart...I’m.....not ready to get hurt again so soon.

•apparently purple marble is/was a thing that exists. But the Romans used it up? Wild if true

•can’t stop thinking abt how elegant FGO!Bedivere would look in fencing gear

•My parents almost named me Sumbal

•You know how B&N has special gilded hardback editions of various classics? I will never forgive them for making their edition of Jane Eyre black/grey and WHITE!! MONOCHROME and BLEAK!! (Just bc it’s gothic!!!) It’s one of the most colorful books I’ve ever read!!! It swept me off my FEET! During the happiest parts of the book everything in my line of sight irl was GOLDEN I was in literal actual and true LOVE!!! I fell a-freshly in love w life bc of how much this book delighted me and they swaddle her in black and WHITE?? I can’t deal gentle reader I cannot deal—

•I have mixed feelings about poetry but I have a soft spot for The Tiger is out yes (you know the one, by the little boy? the ENERGY!!)+e. e. cumming’s The Grasshopper. On average poetry doesn’t make sense to me but grasshopper is the sort of (non)sense which I’m capable of appreciating. I dream of having a voice controlled fancy robot try to kill me so I can tell it to recite grasshopper and then it just explodes in confusion bc you can’t do that (recite grasshopper) 🐅 🤖

•I’ve lost track of the # of years I’ve waited in vain for Shoukoku no Altair to be localized and have official (physical!) English copies available for purchase, instead of just ebooks. Since the forgettable and upsettingly bad anime adaptation I’m afraid it’ll never happen ever...💔 I ache and yearn for naught but idk how to stoppp 😭

•The Cr*wn of L*ve by John Everett Millais is one of my most favorite paintings but I’m like. Embarrassed about it 👑 @my brain WHY. When did I become such a s*ppy gremlin. I blame ur fics and Jane Eyre Eve 😑 I was firmly in the ‘romance is a neurochemical con job’ camp just years before courtesy of my upbringing....what have I become 😶😶😶

•nothing screams “I hate you” like not appreciating+wasting food and also not returning the favor ever like it’s not a zero sum game but god is a little reciprocity too much to ask yes it is and yes I am sensitive and have been hurt before why do you as—🤐

•purposely vague but sometimes I wonder if I’d been one of those kids who put her head down on her desk in elementary school a lot and stopped listening to teachers whilst doing so maybe life, academically speaking, would go smoother for me now. But I was too afraid of getting in trouble and not yet the full fledged quitter you do (not literally) see before you today. Although the urge to put my head down wasn’t one I never felt...Missed opportunities alas

•I used to be able to handle spending any length of time in those mesmerizing aquarium tunnels and even enjoy myself in them but I’m now a more fragile and wise gal and can not even look at pictures w/o feeling intense WHJDNDNDND idek. They’re scary man. 🌊

•one of my favorite fun facts ever is this painter in 1881, Edward Burne-Jones finally realized mummy brown paint actually had bits of real mummies in it when having lunch with friends and was so unnerved he tried to give his tube of the paint a burial immediately. Like immmmeditately. (read this like a year ago in The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair) 🎨 📖

#wow I didnt wanna be boring and only say 3-5 things so I listed way more but wow. this is a doozy I apologize sort of #asks #tyyyyyy 4 asking+ur patience #i took so long to answer I figured I should make it worth ur while....

[nikitasbt]

Wisit Sasanatieng and his Thai films Tears of the Black Tiger (2000), Citizen Dog (2004), The Unseeable (2006)

Thai films are still something I'm not used to. I've been watching dozens of Thai films during the last few months, but mostly these were the arthouse features which have gained acclaim in the West and remained obscure in Thailand. This is the fate of films by Apichatpong Weerasethakul's, Anocha Suwichakornpong, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, and even Rooth Tang. However, I decided to give a shot to the other sort of Thai films which are more into the mainstream and I chose Wisit Sasanatieng. His films are still far from what viewers see in popcorn cinema theaters, but at least this is something many people in Thailand know of. The films of Wisit Sasanatieng comprise colourful settings, vivid lights, comedy elements, shooting, themes of reincarnation, mysteries and pop art imagery. So here is short feedback on his three movies I came across.

Tears of the Black Tiger (ฟ้าทะลายโจร, 2000)

Wisit Sasanatieng entered the Thai cinema industry as a screenwriter in 1997, and 2000 became the year of his debut as a director. The first feature-length film of the director Tears of the Black Tiger is a western set in Thailand of the 1950-s. The idea of Sasanatieng was to give a new look to the old Thai western films by Rattana Pestonji. Modern people in Thailand consider those films "nam nao" which literally means "stinky water" in Thai. Sasanatieng immerses into this water giving the film fresh look, vivid imagery and crazy violence.

The story is not really catchy and plot might be not so interesting to follow. The things this film is acclaimed for are the usage of the cartoon-like colours and costume design. There are quite a few beautiful shots in a splurge of colours making the photography quite exuberant. However, it still doesn't make Tears of the Black Tiger entertaining. The characters are comic and lame, despite some sort of tragedy present in the film. The shooting scenes are made as a parody of different old western films and don't really pretend to be original. A few words have to be said about the music. Tears of the Black Tiger's original soundtrack has been written by Amornbhong Methakunavudh. The songs and tunes sound like remakes of the old Thai music from the 1960-s, and I really liked it!

Also, in this film, Wisit Sasanatieng raised the themes which would be present in his other works - the class difference, interaction of poor and rich and life of a villager in a big city (Bangkok). Tears of the Black Tiger was noted by many critics as something extraordinary due to colour usage and decorations. It was screened on many festivals and eventually became quite a successful debut of Thai director.

Citizen Dog (หมานคร, 2004)

The second feature-length film of Wisit Sasanatieng is even more colourful and vivid rather than his debut western. The photography here is pretty much influenced by pop art and makes the film a visual delight for those who like such a style. Despite quite an aggressive editing and lost of pop art images looking like an advertisement of beer and canned fish, I find this film very appealing and this is the best example of Sasanatieng's visual style. Moreover, the story here is coherent and likable making Citizen Dog my favourite film of Wisit Sasanatieng.

Citizen Dog is a story about common people trying to adjust and make living in Bangkok. They arrive there hoping for a better future and live in their dreams. Chasing the dream they don't see the brilliance of life around them, and often their life is getting ruined by numerous illusions they possess. Initially, all the people are good and kind, but life changes them leaving no hopes for making a real impact or finding love. People get used to it and amend their lives to big city values and lifestyle, start acting like everybody and that's how they grow the dog tails which everybody in Bangkok has.

Main characters Pod and Jin are the villagers in Bangkok who have not become dog citizens yet. Jin dreams to learn how to read the mysterious white book she found, while Pod dreams about living together in love and peace with Jin and staying away from boring people. In this film, Wisit Sasanatieng shows with colourful imagery and vivid photography the cracks in their illusions. Moreover, the film features many additional characters with their own illusions and dream who are also meant to become dog citizens. We see the protagonists falling victims of many contagious ideas they from the big city life they cannot resist. These people are defenseless just like many others who come to live in a capital city and will grow the tail once. Wisit Sasanatieng mixed romance with comedy and adds the motifs of reincarnation and different lives everybody lives - it is a common motif for Thai culture.

In the end, we get a visually beautiful and entertaining tale about tails and love. The performance of actors Mahasamut Boonyaruk and Saengthong Gate-Uthong in lead roles is quite decent. All-in-all, Citizen Dog is a great example of modern Thai romantic movie, and I'm happy I've seen it.

The Unseeable (เปนชู้กับผี, 2006)

Horror films are something I really detest as I don't enjoy this sort of emotions coming with such movies. I watch like one horror in two years, but as it was the first Thai horror film I could possibly watch I decided to give it a shot. After Tears of the Black Tiger and Citizen Dog Wisit Sasanatieng changes his visual style and makes a low-budget horror/mystery film about a woman who arrives at the house inhabited by the ghosts of dead people from many past generations. The film is set in the Siam of the 1930s which is another attempt of Sasanatieng to look into the old culture of Thailand and recreate the style of the past.

I couldn't help it, but I had difficulties watching this film. The story is coherent, and there are quite a few twists of the plot in the end when the real action takes place. The difference between the dream and present, real and supernatural becomes very ambiguous, and the viewers can hardly find out who are the ghosts in The Unseeable and who is still alive. The story is not so bad, but personally, I only liked the way this film depicts the ghosts - it is quite different from the western horrors.

Nevertheless, the work on light is very decent in this film. There are many beautiful shots based on the direction of light I enjoyed. The music is spooky and consistent as an addition to the suspense of the main character's search. Speaking of the main character, the lead actress Siraphun Wattanajinda is really beautiful in this role. That's pretty much it.

After seeing three films of Wisit Sasanatieng I made a conclusion he is not going to become my favourite Thai director, yet I liked his visual style and pop art features very much. Sasanatieng's films are something I'm not used, and I'm happy about getting these new emotions related to the Thai cinema world.

#wisit sasanatieng #วิศิษฏ์ ศาสนเที่ยง #thai film #thai cinema #Siraphun Wattanajinda #tears of the black tiger #citizen dog #ศิรพันธ์ วัฒนจินดา