The End is NOT near

I am that I am

[charlidos]

More from that lovely interview with Tomas Alfredson (in Swedish - translated by me), talking about music and why he chose La Mer with Julio Iglesias (see video):

So you sit alone and listen to music for hours in headphones?

Yes.

Ironically enough, it sounds like something you can imagine George Smiley doing.

You know the song which ends the film, La Mer? We choose it just because we fantasised about George Smiley listening to it home alone. We wanted to somehow give an impression of his inner being. So the choice of the kind of music he could possibly listen to was very important. It could absolutely not be Beethoven. And not something too typically British, like Music Hall.

But then I found this recording of La Mer done by Julio Iglesias from the beginning of the 1970’s, recorded live at the Olympia in Paris. Julio Iglesias was a great singer at this time. I have a few albums which are damn good. Julio Iglesias version of La Mer becomes representative of everything the world of MI6 isn’t. Instead of damp streets and old men smoking in rooms it’s sea and sun and the beach, perhaps a golden bracelet around the wrist. And so we get a more romantic image of George Smiley.

But there is no scene where he sits and listen to La Mer. It starts playing at a Christmas party.

No, we filmed a scene like that, but we had to cut it, it became too meaningful. But all the actors in the final scenes got to listen to it in headphones to get in the right mood.

What did actors like Colin Firth think of how you in a British film listen to a Spanish singer perform a French chanson?

The reaction was something like: “I’m not sure I get it … but I think it’s wonderful!” And in the film’s very first scene you can hear Jussi Björling [legendary Swedish opera singer].

What? Is it true?

Nobody’s caught that. But in the apartment of Control you can in the background hear Jussi Björling sing “Sveeeeerige, Sveeeeeerige” [Sweeeeeden, Sweeeeeden]. A little joke on my part.  

[effyeahdfw]

excerpt from HAL INCANDENZA'S FIRST EXTANT WRITTEN COMMENT ON ANYTHING EVEN REMOTELY FILMIC

Captain Frank Furillo of ‘Hill Street Blues’ is a 'post’-modern hero, a virtuoso of triage and compromise and administration. Frank Furillo retains his sanity, composure, and superior grooming in the face of a barrage of distracting, unheroic demands that would have left Chief Steve McGarrett [he of 'Hawaii Five-O’] slumped, unkempt, and chewing his knuckle in administrative confusion.

In further contrast to Chief Steve McGarrett, Captain Frank Furillo is rarely filmed tight or full-front. He is usually one part of a frenetic, moving pan by the program’s camera. In contrast, 'Hawaii Five-O’’s camera crew never even used a dolly, favoring a steady tripodic close-up on McGarrett’s face that today seems more reminiscent of romantic portraiture than filmed drama.

What kind of hero comes after McGarrett’s Irishized modern cowboy, the lone man of action riding lonely herd in paradise? Furillo’s is a whole different kind of loneliness. The 'post’-modern hero was a heroic part of the herd, responsible for all of what he is part of, responsible to everyone, his lonely face as placid under pressure as a cow’s face. The jut-jawed hero of acting ('Hawaii Five-O’) becomes the mild-eyed hero of reaction ('Hill Street Blues,’ a decade later).

And, as we have observed thus far in our class, we, as a North America audience, have favored the more Stoic, corporate hero of reactive probity ever since, some might be led to argue 'trapped’ in the reactive moral ambiguity of 'post-’ and 'post-post’-modern culture.

But what comes next? What North American hero can hope to succeed the placid Frank? We await, I predict, the hero of non-action, the catatonic hero, the one beyond calm, divorced from all stimulus, carried here and there across sets by burly extras whose blood sings with retrograde amines.

[yahwehiam]

Known Dreamstones of Morpheus

Dream Ruby Rose-Quartz Porpentine Fire Opal Black Pearl Topaz Crawpock Eagle Stone Emerald

Am I missing any?

[yahwehiam]

The Four Free Houses

Worlds’ End

Gaileon’s Lap

Inn-Between (Accasbel’s)

The Toad-Stone

The four inns and taverns outside the constraints of nations, realms, realities, and time.

[dune-quotes]

“Revenge is for children and the emotionally retarded.”

Darwi Odrade, Chapterhouse: Dune (via dune-quotes)

[mapsontheweb]

Atheists are prohibited from holding public office in 8 US states.

[latadelixo]

[neil-gaiman]

This is not a drill

Good Omens has just gone live in a lot of territories, earlier than expected.

[mapsontheweb]

How many of spouses must be present at wedding for marriage to be valid.

[oeming]

Some modern day #dicktracy villains https://www.instagram.com/p/BwaWd-sAXuB/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=wfbcpa6vrues

[realizinq]

[mapsontheweb]

The price of mobile internet worldwide 2019.

[ihateiu]

[mapsontheweb]

Vienna, January 1913. Hitler, Stalin, Trotsky, Tito, Freud, Emperor Franz Joseph and Archduke Franz Ferdinand lived there.

Keep reading

[jensorensen]

If Fox News was an individual journalist

If you enjoy these cartoons, please consider subscribing.

[compulsive]

[dcinthe80s]

Karen Berger (pictured with Grant Morrison); 1988 - 89?

If you are a fan of DC’s Vertigo imprint, you owe it all to Karen Berger. Karen Berger was an English lit and art history major who graduated from Brooklyn College in 1979. She joined DC comics shortly after graduation as an assistant to Paul Levitz (who was an editor at the time). It quickly became apparent that Berger had a knack for editing and she soon became editor of House of Mystery - Berger’s experience with a horror/suspense anthology book would foreshadow great things that would come later in her career. After House of Mystery ended in 1981, Berger went on to edit a TON of books that you are probably familiar with if you were a fan of DC comics in the 1980s. These included Legion of Super-Heroes and it’s various spin-offs, Amethyst, Blue Beetle, Arion: Lord of Atlantis, DC’s New Talent Showcase, and the Wanderers (just to name a few). The comic book editor is the unsung hero of the comic book industry (most of the fan mail goes to the penciler/inker and the writer), mainly because readers don’t realize how big of an impact the editor has on the finished product. To put it broadly, the editor is like the project manager of the book/series. They oversee the entire process of a book from start to finish, coordinate with the writing and art team to make sure the book is ready on time, and act as quality control for the final product (this includes spotting and correcting continuity errors). As impressive as a resume of accomplishments that may be, they don’t even hold a candle to the three major impacts Berger had on DC during the 80s that you may be unaware of: 1) Karen Berger redefined Wonder Woman for the modern era. When DC comics decided to reboot Wonder Woman after Crisis on Infinite Earths, George Pérez got the job of plotting and penciling the new Wonder Woman series in 1987. Anytime people talk about this series they always refer to it as the Pérez Wonder Woman, but few realize the important contributions Berger made as the editor of that book. First of all, she humanized the Amazons and their gods - which led to a re-examination and modernization of the Wonder Woman mythos. Secondly, she introduced real world issues to the series (drug abuse, feminism, racism, etc). Finally, she recruited new female talent for the Wonder Woman series (big names include Mindy Newell and Jill Thompson). George Pérez himself cites Berger as a huge influential factor in the series, and believes that the amazing sales and acclaim the series received couldn’t have happened without her. Pérez and Berger both left the book at the same time (issue #63). Read more about it at http://thanley.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/karen-bergers-wonder-woman-legacy/.  2) Karen Berger spearheaded the British Invasion. And by ‘British Invasion’, I am referring to the period in the late 80s when DC fans suddenly found books written by Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, Peter Milligan and other UK writers gracing the shelves of their local comic book shop. In 1984, Berger became editor for Alan Moore’s Saga of the Swamp Thing - this made sense since Berger had experience with horror books (remember House of Mystery?). The acclaim and success of Saga of the Swamp Thing combined with the high level of sophistication the title had achieved inspired Berger to seek out other UK talent. Keeping in mind, an editor also acts as a talent scout and can assign work to artists and writers or even 'green-light’ proposed projects launched by writers. Berger was able to sway a few former 2000A.D. artists and writers to come to DC comics to work on a few projects involving the revamp of several C-list DC characters. Read more about the British Invasion here: http://sequart.org/magazine/19399/1986-the-british-invasion-part-1-grant-morrison-in-1986-batman/

which ultimately lead to… 3) Karen Berger created the Vertigo imprint. In the late 80s/early 90s, the British Invasion had led to Swamp Thing, the Sandman, Hellblazer, Doom Patrol and Shade the Changing Man being recognized as successful ongoing titles. Coincidentally, these titles were also edited by Berger - and this is a good thing as it allowed the writers to go places conventional comics were not allowed to go - bringing in a more adult audience. Founded in 1993, Vertigo comics was the logical conclusion to all of the titles Berger had managed to amass under her editorial control. Vertigo found itself on the fringe of the DC Universe - rarely did Superman or the Justice League make appearances in any of these comics - and the imprint managed to absorb a few more DC characters (Zatanna, Madame Xanadu, Unknown Soldier, the Spectre, Doctor Occult, Jonah Hex, Phantom Stranger) as it gained momentum. If you have ever enjoyed any of these Vertigo titles just as I have, then you have Karen Berger to thank for that. Read more about comics as literature at the Sequart Research & Literacy Organization.

Karen Berger stepped down as the Executive Editor & Senior Vice President of Vertigo comics in 2012. I can’t say enough great things about Berger. She viewed comic books as more than just 'funny books’ or 'pictures with words’, but as actual literature. She recruited some really talented young writers (who may have not been discovered in North America otherwise) which ushered in a whole new era of thought-provoking writing that incorporated mature content matter and intelligent ideas. I miss her already.

*photo from: http://sequart.org/magazine/17537/karen-berger-to-leave-dc/morrison-and-berger/.